The opening week of Mountain Valley Conference baseball action was a tough one for the Creswell Bulldogs. The Dawgs were shut out by host La Pine 10-0 in five innings April 9 and fell 19-1 in five innings to host Pleasant Hill on April 10.
At La Pine, the Bulldogs struggled against rain, snow and the lingering effects of a long bus ride, as well as the second-ranked Hawks.
”It was really cold, it snowed and rained during the game, and we had to go the long way around and got stuck in the snow at a rest stop, so it took us five hours to get there,” said Creswell Head Coach Tyler Main. ”That’s not an excuse, because they had to play in the weather conditions too, but it was rough. We didn’t get home until midnight and then we had to turn around and play Pleasant Hill the next day.”
Dallton Dewey pitched for Creswell at La Pine, giving up just one earned run on three hits, striking out two and walking four.
”Dallton did a really good job pitching for us,” Main said. ”Our defense just kind of let us down. We hurt ourselves with a lot of fielding errors.”
Dewey also went 2-for-2 from the plate. Austin Gabriel and Nick Kubishta each went 1-for-2.
In contrast to the La Pine game, ”pitching was our downfall” against seventh-ranked Pleasant Hill, Main said. ”Our pitching staff as a whole gave up 19 runs, seven hits, 12 walks and nine hit-by-pitch.”
Levi Bones went 2-for-3 from the plate. Dewey and Dean Howard each went 1-for-2 and Gio Mediati scored Creswell’s only run, on a passed ball.
This week, the Bulldogs travel to Harrisburg and play host to third-ranked Santiam Christian as league play continues.
”Overall, we didn’t have the best start to league that we would’ve wished for – but we play everybody in our league three times, and with 10 games left I have faith in our team and the leadership on our team that we can turn things around,” Main said. ”In baseball, anybody can beat anybody at any time.”
Noting that three MVC teams – La Pine, Pleasant Hill and Santiam Christian – are ranked among the top five in 3A state, Main added: ”We have the best league in 3A, so as long as we stay competitive and win some games, we’ll still have a chance to make it to state with the at-large bid, so that’s what we’re working toward.”
