HOOD RIVER – This is it – A four-game season.
After losing two games Friday night by scores of 4-1 and 9-0, The Dalles baseball team is mired in a streak of six losses in the past seven contests to fall into last place in the Columbia River Conference.
With some rebound performances, some help and continued togetherness, there is still a chance to climb back into the postseason mix.
As one of eight seniors on the roster, Colton Walker knows this team has the ability to turn things around.
“We’ve got to keep our heads up. With the season coming down to the end, most of the team is seniors and we grew up together and we know what is on the line. There’s no reason to get down,” Walker said. “I still believe in this team, but we have to keep our heads up and just try as hard as we can and stay positive. We didn’t see that today. There was chirping and we just have to fix that and try to stay positive, this way we can make a run at this thing.”
In the first game, TD pitcher Bailey Ortega tossed a complete-game, a five-hitter with three strikeouts and three walks, but the No. 5-ranked Hood River Valley Eagles scored three unearned runs in the first inning and added another unearned run in the fifth to pull off the 4-1 win.
After the first inning, the right-hander scattered three hits and walked a batter, retiring four HRV batters in a row twice.
TD managed five hits and a walk against HRV starter Patrick Harvey, with the lone run coming in the fourth inning on a 350-foot home run to deep left field by Walker.
Colin Noonan, Johnny Miller, Kellen Mathisen and Boston bate had a hit each, Matt Strizich went 0 for 2 with a walk.
In the top of the fifth inning and the Hawks trailing 3-1, Noonan had a one-out single and Miller reached on an error, but Harvey induced a groundout and followed with a strikeout to end the inning.
Down 4-1 in the seventh and two outs, Noonan reached on an error and Miller singled to bring the tying run to the plate, but Harvey retired the final batter on a popup to first base for the final out.
Harvey struck out five, walked one and allowed five hits, in his complete-game effort.
Skyler Hunter and Harvey had a hit and a run scored apiece, and Montana Kurahara added a two-run double in his three at-bats.
In the nightcap, Walker pitched five innings and allowed five runs, one earned, on two hits with four strikeouts and three walks, as HRV scored three first-inning runs and then broke the game open with four in the bottom of the sixth for the 9-0 win and the sweep.
TD managed one hit in the game, a first-inning single by Mathisen, and was issued six walks, but the Hood River Valley pitching duo of Chase Lariza and Isaiah Enriquez struck out 14, 11 by Lariza.
Harvey went 1 for 3 with a walk, three runs scored and added a three-run home run in the sixth to lead HRV’s three-hit attack.
Andy Schmidt scored two runs and Adam Cameron went 1 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
TD (8-12 overall, 2-6 league) committed five errors in the second game and the pitching staff of Walker and Bate walked four, as eight of the nine runs allowed were unearned.
TD hosts Hood River Valley (17-4, 7-1) again at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, and then hosts Hermiston at 4:30 p.m. next Friday.
TD head coach J.R. Runyon wants his group to maintain its focus and fire for the entire game.
Those critical elements cannot diminish against upper echelon squads, especially the state’s No. 5-ranked team.
“You let that happen, then it is over,” Runyon said. “That is the big message going into Tuesday is, I mean we say it every day, but we have to compete all the way through and never get down on ourselves, no matter what the score is and finish the game strong and competitive and just flat-out compete. That is what they have to do Tuesday. Their backs are against the wall and that’s it.”
Moments after Friday’s game, the Riverhawks gathered together on the left field line for a team meeting to hash out a game plan for the final stretch of the season.
Noonan mentioned the words brothers, picking each other up and going to the plate with a better hitting plan.
This is his last season, so he and eight other seniors see four games on the schedule, but they have hopes of extending past those four in the grand scheme of things.
“We have eight seniors here that are playing in their last year of baseball that want to win and make the playoffs,” Noonan said. “In order to do that, we have to win our next four ball games. We have three home games left and all these guys want it. I want it, we all want to win and we will do whatever we can to get it done. Our season is far from over. I believe that and so do my brothers on this team.”
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