Second baseman Jack Callahan leaps to catch a throw from catcher Dylan Miller as an Elkton-Yoncalla baserunner slides underneath. GINI DAVIS – THE CRESWELL CHRONICLE
Bulldog bats caught fire in besting visiting Elkton-Yoncalla 16-6 in five innings on March 20. Up 10-6 in the bottom of the fourth, ”we were able to string some hits together and score four more; then we shut them down in the fifth and scored two more,” said Coach Chris Whitmore.
Dallton Dewey, who went 3-for-4 with five RBIs and three runs, got the walk-off RBI, bringing in Jerek Hodge on a base hit to right center.
Colton White went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs; Dylan Miller was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run; Andrew Larrison was 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs; and Cade Apo was 1-for-4 with three RBIs.
White pitched 3 2/3 innings, giving up six runs (four earned) on five hits, striking out eight and walking two.
Dean Howard pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, striking out one and walking one.
Howard – who’s already posting some impressive stats – had another strong outing on March 24, but Creswell fell 0-4 to visiting Sisters.
After three games, the junior has pitched 12 innings for a 0.00 ERA, 22 strikeouts, one hit and six walks.
”He’s doing great,” Whitmore said. ”He’s put in a lot of work and it definitely shows.”
Against Sisters, Howard pitched 5 2/3 no-hit, no-run innings, striking out eight and walking five before Whitmore pulled in him the top of the sixth, with two outs and the score 0-0.
”Dean threw a great game, but he went deep in the count a lot and that kind of put him in the hole with his pitch count,” Whitmore said of his decision to bring in relief pitcher Apo. ”They’re allowed 110 pitches, but the second week of the season I hold them to 80 because their arms are not at full strength and conditioning yet.”
Apo got the third out in the sixth but gave up four runs (three earned), one hit and four walks in the seventh, striking out one.
The first Sisters runner to score got on base on a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then, after a strikeout, scored on a grounder ”that was kind of a hot hopper, and we couldn’t handle it,” Whitmore said. ”After that, you could feel it set in that now we were losing 1-0 and it was the seventh inning.”
Three more runs scored, and Creswell was unable to answer. Apo, Miller and Dewey each went 1-for-3.
”We weren’t able to perform under pressure,” Whitmore said. ”We played six innings of really good baseball against an always-strong 4A team; it was probably one of the better games I’ve coached at Creswell, even though we lost. Going forward, we just need to learn how to buckle down and recover from an error and not let it get in our heads.”
