p h o to s b y S a m Weston
Cougars bats back stellar pitching
BY DOUG FRY
’
As we move closer to summer and the
weather heats up, Cougar’ s baseball team
looks to do the same.
C lackam as C om m unity C o lle g e ’ s
baseball team has struggled in this early
season, but they have been able to pick up
more wins as the season progresses. The.
Cougars are 3-9 in league and were able
to add three wins to their overall record
against George Fox University JV1-1 and
Linfield college JV 2-0 as a final tune
up prior to diving back into league play
against Chemeketa Community College.
Clackamas found the winning recipe
when hosting thé Bruins and Wildcats.
The Cougars Were able to outscore their
opponents 25-12 in those four games,
showing that their bats camé alive and
their pitching kept their opponents shut
down.
Head coach Jim Hoppel was pleased
with the response his team made after
dropping their first game of the weekend.
“ The first one we lost on Friday we did
not play very well and I think they kind
of realized that they didn’t play w ell,”
said Hoppel. “ I think the last two games
against a really good JV team (Linfield)
that had a couple o f their varsity.guys,
we really poured it on in that first game
and we won the second game.”
In the final game o f the weekend,
freshm an pitcher and third basem an
Renner Stecki was given the nod and
threw a complete game. Stecki was only
allowed two earned runs and was able to
fan eight batters faced.
“ It’ s the mental side of it. There’ s a lot
more to it than just physical stuff. It’s
understanding how everything works,
what needs to be done,” said Stecjci. “ I’ve
been able to hit my spots well, throwing
the right pitches at the right tim es.
Mainly, I put the ball over the strike zone
trying to get them to swing and lettihg
them make mistakes.”
Stecki had his m ost success w hen
throwing a com plete game. His three
complete games are tied for most among
all pitchers in the Northwest Athletic
conference. Also, his 37 strikeouts are
seventh among pitchers in the South
Region.
CCC has found scoring from m any
different batters this year but has relied
on freshman right fielder Tyler Parker
and his team leading 17 RBIs.
“ I’ve changed my approach a little bit
whether I’ m in the leadoff spot or the
4/5 spot in the middle of the order. I’ m
just trying to do my job and score runs,”
said Parker.
With a freshman-loaded roster, Hoppel
believes that at this point in the season,
they w ill find more success as players
settle into their roles.
“ I think some of the guys are stepping
up and earning their starting spots now,”
said Hoppel. “ W e’ve played enough
games that we found out which guys are
going to be playing more than the other
guys. I think they’ll just need to keep
their head on their shoulders and keep
moving forward.”
Clackamas has been able to find a sweet
spot in their game and can attribute it to
their success, as Parker states.
“Just pulling every aspect of the game
together, we have good pitching, good
hitting and good defense,” said Parker.
“We need to keep playing together as a
team, when we can string hits together
and we’re fired up in the dugout and we’re
all just playing well the wins are going
to come.”
In their most recent games, the Cougars
dropped three of four against Chemeketa
finding their lone win in the first game
on Saturday. Clackamas started the game
with an explosive eight-run first inning
and never looked, back going on to win
14-4. Freshman pitcher Cody Anderson
recorded six straight scoreless innings
before giving up his first run in the
seventh inning. Anderson threw for six
and a third innings before his day was
over.
The baseball team returns to action
April 28, when hosting Southwestern
Oregon Community College.
Top: Gody Becker pitches as the Clackamas defense awaits readily on Apirl 15 against Linfield. Left: Cody Becker stares down the runner at on third base.
Right: Tyler Parker slides into home plate in an attempt to score.
Clackamas Print APRIL 26.2017 theclackamasprint.com 7