The Clackamas print., April 18, 2018, Page 8, Image 8

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Cougars dealing early
AFTER A SHAKY START, CLACKAMAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S BASEBALL TEAM IS CURRENTLY IN THIRD PLACE
BY JA C O B THOMPSON.
SPORTS 'EDITOR
F igh tin g for playoff position in the South Region o f
the NW AC, Clackamas Com m unity College’s baseball
tea m picked up two w ins ag ain st rival M t. Hood
C om m u n ity College on Saturday w inn in g 7-5- and
1-0 im proving to 6 -4 in league play.
The Cougars cam e into The w eekend m a tch -u p
fresh o ff a 4-3 loss against Clark Com m unity College
in game two of a double-header on April 10. The joss
dropped Clackam as to 4^-4 in league, but sophomore
third basem an N athan Loranger fe lt his team had
yet to play their b est b aseball.
“ I feel like w e’re areally good ball club ,” Loranger
said. “ W e should have more w ins and I th in k w e’re
only going to keep im proving. I see guys w orking
harder every day and getting better resu lts.”
seventh and holding M t.
kHood to two h its and a
» t h e eighth in n in g. The
run in
•y°u n §
j p ! pitcher got into a bit of
tro u b le
- „in th e fin a l fra m e
o n e, w alk in g the
o f. g a m e - 'W||
of the inning and
second batter 'W|
to back doubles-
givin g up back w
Hk S a in ts
t h a t g a v e th é 1
a fik the score
more runs m aking
5-7. ' ’
. “ I ’ m n ot w orried
ab o u t ÎÈ ü b a n k s ] at
a ll}” H o p p e l ¿aid . “ T h e ^ ^ ^ ^ J - ,
games before that he’ s come
MSLTÿ®
out and got us three outs in
C la ck a m a s struggled at th e p late early in th e
the eighth and h e cam e in for the
season; w ith a tea m b a ttin g average o f .221, th e
n in th and th ey just got h im a little
Cougars are third to last in batting average in the
b it. But other th an th at h e ’ s kept the
1
N W A C. However, Loranger’ s b attin g average is up
ball down and h e ’ s getting strikes so I’ m j
f r o m .200 during n on-conferen ce play, to a team
not worried about him at a ll.”
leading .440. Sophom ore Renner Stecki is batting
W ith one out and the tying run com ing up
.330 and leads t h e t e a m in runs batted in w ith 6,
and sophom ore outfielders-Andy Schubert, Grant
to bat, Hoppel turned .to sophomore pitcher
Horw itz and Tyler Parker have all h it iiom e runs.
Grayson Fêpw ick to get the two fin a l out£
H oppel said th at opposing coaches have told h im
to seal the w in for C la cka m a s. Fenw ick
t h a t Clackam as’ l in e u p is threatening.
did just that, getting a ground ball for the
“ I knew it ’d take a little tim e fp r t h e m to get back
secbnd out and strikin g out Brian Rice
in the groove,” Hoppel said. “ Being in the gym , not
f ö r th e fin al out o f the game' giving The
Cougars , a j - s w in :- (
Seeing live pitching every day, you get behind the
eight ball a little b it, but I’m not surprised th ey’re
Runscante at a premium in the second
h ittin g w ell, because I know they can all h it .”
gam e o f the double-header. W ith both
In gam e one o f th e d o u b le-h ead er, C lackam as
tearhs com bining for nine h its, it was
turned to second baseman..Berry H un t to take the
0 - 0 th ro u g h fou r in n in g s , th o u g h
m ound. M aking h is sixth, appearance as.a pitcher
Schubert changed that when he belted
for the Cougars, H un t pitched six strong in n in gs,
a solo hom e run to give Clackam as a
holding M t. HoodTo two runs and striking out five. * V o lead. Schubert’ s solo.jack would
“ I left a lot of balls up, but luckily up and out df the
end up being the w in n in g run, as
[strike] zone and they swung and m issed,” Hunt said.
Ste ck i k e p t M t. H ood scoreless
through seven innings, getting his
“ I got lucky strike calls and w hat not. I had trouble
second win' o f the season.
locating, but m y coaches helped calm m e dow n.”
O ffe n siv e ly , C la ck a m a s ju m p ed on th e Sain ts
felt good the w hole ga m e ,”
early, scoring a run on a Stecki double in the first
Stecki said. “ It had a good pace
in n in g and a Stecki single in the third. Jacob Kaady
and it was a sm ooth ga m e .”
'With the two wins; Clackamas Ç 1
added two runs to the Cougars’ effort, h ittin g two
im p ro v ed to 6 -4 in So u th
runs b a tted in sin gle w irh tw o outs in th e th ird
in nin g.
Region play, and the Cougars
“ I ’vë always been con fid en t th at we have guys’ cu rren tly sit in third place.
in the lineup th at can.score m e ,” Stecki said. “ O r
Clackamas«was scheduled to .
th ey’ll do their job to get on and the rest o f the team
play gam e one o f a five gam e
series against Linn~Benton (22-2 w l l
w ill get those runs in .”
overall, 9-1 in league) on Tuesday
■ M t. Hood would score a run in the fifth i but the
but itw asp o stp o n e d d u eto rain . The S
Cougars answered when Stecki scored on a wild pitch.
T h e Saints scored a second run in the sixth and again,
Cougars travel to Vancouver today to- \
C lackam as answered,with two runs o f thieir own.
play gam e four o f five again st Clark
Hoppel went to the bullpen in thé sèventh inning,
Com m unity College (15-9, 6-5.)
calling on freshman pitcher Derek Eubanks to relieve
flu n t. Eubanks* started hot,, retiring the side in the
Clackamas Print
th e c la c k a m a s p r in L h e l
A p ril 18, 2018