Peterson feels pitching key to success
By Doug Vaughan
Of The Print
April showers have
brought less- beautiful things
than May flowers to the
Clackamas Community Col
lège baseball program as the
rainy season has caused the
Cougars to get off to a slow
start, losing six of their first 11
games.
“We are just starting to get
in shape. With all the rain-outs
it is hard to keep everything
up,” Coach Gene Peterson
said.
The rain is gone for the
moment and just in time for the
Cougar club to heat up their
quest for a Regional tourna
ment berth. To qualify the
Cougs, Treasure Valley Com
munity College of Ontario,
Oregon, and North Idaho of
Cour d’Alene will play a total of
12 games throughout the
season, and the two teams with
the best records will advance to
the tournament.
Peterson has not seen
enough of either team to make
a prediction of the Cougars’
chances for a playoff spot.
To be a success this year
Peterson is looking for con
sistency in his pitching staff. So
far he feels they have had
bright spots along with bad
moments.
‘.‘We are improved over
last year. We did not have very
much pitching last year,” Peter
son said. “This year we have
had some pretty good
freshman come in, so we’ve
got some depth (in our staff).”
The ace of the starting
rotation is Eric Bower, who has
only allowed six runs in three
appearances. Bower is follow
ed by Jeff Sheer and Jim Altr-
inger, both considered “hard
throwers” by Peterson.
Safe or out? A Cougar pitcher covers home plate after a wild pitch in a recent game against Lewis and Clark.
Photo by Duane Hiersche
Bower is also the leading
hitter for the Cougars hitting
.416 early in the season. The
main source of power for the
Cougs comes from outfielder
Clay Baggerly,' who’s .450
average and two home runs in
the Yakima Community Col
lege Invitational earned him a
spot on the all-tournament
team.
Inconsistency has also
plagued the Cougars. “We
need to be a little more ag
gressive. We have to pop that
ball when we have guys on
Buckley eyes Regionals
base. We haven’t been doing
that. You are not going to win
if you can’t hit the ball with
guys on base,” Peterson said.
Peterson said that most of
the games this year have been
determined by a couple of
runs. With the Cougs’ base
running style and more consis
Clackamas is coming, off a tent play from his team, Peter
16-18 record from last year, son is looking to put more
and are trying to build a name marks in the win column.
for themselves. One area that
The most recent road trip
Peterson feels will help them for the Cougars was not so pro
win some games is their speed ductive as they came back .with
on the bases.
three losses in a three game
“We run quite a bit-we weekend at North Idaho. Even
are quick,” Peterson said. thopgh they lost all three
“When we run well it only games, Peterson was still im
helps us. It allows us to steal pressed with his team’s perfor
mance.
and hit and run a lot more.”
“We played quite well. I
don’t know how we could have
played better those two
games,” Peterson said.
The two games the coach
referred to were the first and
Men win 8-0 over “top comp”
By Rob Conner
Of The Print
“It was a good one for us,”
said Dave Buckley, men’s ten
nis coach, of his team’s im
pressive 8-0 win over North
Idaho College of Couer
d’Alene last Sunday.
number one seed. I don’t see
how they (the other coaches)
could stop it, because we must
go by common opponents,”
the coach added.
Number one Cougar John
Storm won straight sets of 7-6
and 6-4. “He won but he can
play better,” Buckley said.
“It gave us an. idea of
In the thriller of the day,
where we stand,” Buckley said. Sophomore Byron Sullivan
The day before North Idaho fought back from a 4-1 deficit
won a tournament which in in the third set to win the match
cluded Mt. Hood, Blue Moun .6-4, 5-7, ana 6-4. “Byron was
tain, and Skagit Valley. By battling allergies all day and it
determining common op was good that he was able to
ponents, Buckley feels the come from behind like he did,”
Cougars will be in good shape Buckley said.
for theRegionals.
Oregon City’s own Tom
“John (Storm) and Tom Hercamp started the day slow,
(Hercamp) should be number dropping his first set 3-6 but
one seeds because they each finishing strong at 6-4 and 6-2.
Fourth and fifth men Bob
beat guys who won in the tour
nament on Saturday,” Buckley Martin and Steve Gorman each
stated. “We have a good collected straight set victories
chance at getting everyone in a 6-1 and 6-1. “Martin and Gor
Wednesday April 20, 1983
man played well, but not
great,” Buckley stated.
In doubles action Storm
and Sullivan played their
“usual” first set, losing 4-6 but
rallied to win in an impressive
fashion with 6-1 and 6-2.
“That’s the way they should
play all the time,” Buckley said,
pointing to the two set scores
on the stat sheet.
Clackamas’
second
doubles team of Mike Wofford
and Bob Martin posted straight
sets"victory at 6-3 and 6-3. “He
(Wofford) is a big asset to our
team. He doesn’t play singles
and people don’t realize what
he means to us,” Buckley said.
“I was happy with the way
we played, but we can even
play better,” Buckley said. “I’m
looking forward to the
Regionals,” the coach added
with a grin.
third games, which they lost
3-0 and 7-6, respectively. The
second game was a 11-3
triumph for North Idaho.
“We got a couple bad calls
the first game and were only
beat 3-0,” Peterson said. “The
third game we went into the
ninth (inning) with a 6-1 lead
and had two double play balls
bounce over our infielders’
heads.”
The Cougs received ex
cellent performances from
Chris Mayfield and Tony
Meuller as each contributed
heavily to the Cougar scoring
rallies as well as putting in
strong defensive efforts.
The team will continue
play today at the College in a
seven inning game against'
Lewis and Clark.
FREE
10 Speed Bicycle
Specials on
Bicycles & Accessories
at the
TRADE FAIR
Oregon City High School
Auditorium
April 23 & 24
I ALAN’S BICYCLE STORE
I 1007 Seventh St., Oregon City, 655-4112
.. ........................................................................................................................■■■■■............ niiiiiint
Page 7