CRESWELL – The Creswell Bulldogs’ pitching and defense have been the best in Class 3A this season, and Friday’s 12-0 quarterfinal victory over Burns/Crane was no different.
Bulldogs junior Jaxon Pelham struck out the Hilanders final batter for his 12th strikeout of the game and 100th of the season. The out also put the finishing touches on a five-inning no-hit masterpiece.
“In the fourth inning, I was sitting in the dugout thinking, ‘Wait, they haven’t got a hit yet,’ so I was really excited about that. But it’s really easy to pitch when it’s probably the best defense in the state, because I can trust them to do everything,” he said.
The Bulldogs defense is excellent, but Pelham also made their lives easy, with only three balls put in play.
Pelham was pitching with a significant lead from the second inning on, because his offense put up nine runs in the bottom of the first. A miscommunication by the Hilanders infield resulted in an error when an out would have ended the inning at 1-0, and things quickly snowballed. After 30+ minutes, 62 pitches, and 13 Bulldogs batters, the Hilanders finally escaped the inning down 9-0.
The Bulldogs offense was led by two transfers. Junior Landon Vaughn, who came from Cottage Grove, was 3-for-4, with two stolen bases and a two-RBI single in his second at-bat of the first inning. Junior Zak Hermansen, a Lowell transfer, was 2-for-2, with a walk, two stolen bases, and 2 RBI. The pair are top three on the team in innings pitched, ERA, and stolen bases, and have provided clutch hitting.
“We work on approaches all the time, every day, and (they) are buying in, they’re putting in extra work, and they’re just doing a great job,” head coach Kevin Feist said of Vaughn and Hermansen.
Feist said the victory against his former program, now coached by his former players, was bittersweet, but it was all in the spirit of competition.
“I love those guys. I’m proud of them for the job they’ve done,” he said. “I have a lot of fond memories of those guys, but yeah, you want to beat them.”
In their opening state playoff game, the Bulldogs used the small-ball offensive philosophy that has worked so well for them all year to get a 7-2 victory over McLoughlin/Griswold. Multiple sacrifice bunts, a sacrifice fly, and five stolen bases allowed the Bulldogs to be efficient in bringing runners all the way home. The game turned when Braden Hartman laid down a “suicide squeeze” with the bases loaded – where the batters ran as Hartman laid down a bunt. The heads-up baserunning from Pelham allowed him to be the second runner to score, coming from second base. The pitching was excellent as well, with Vaughn throwing the first six innings and senior Matthew Jenkins, making his first appearance since April 14 and receiving a raucous ovation, closing out the game.
The Bulldogs get one more home game thanks to the quarterfinal upset, facing 7th-seeded South Umpqua/Days Creek.
“We have a great crowd. These kids are getting a lot of support, so I love being at home,” Feist said.
The Bulldogs have beaten the Lancers twice this season. That game will be on Tuesday at 4:30.
