Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2018)
SPORTS 8 Cougars stumbling in playoff race STORY AND PHOTOS BY JACOB THOMPSON SPORTS EDITOR With seven games remaining in the regular season, Clackamas Com m unity College’s baseball team is struggling. W ith a record o f 2-10 in their last 10 games, the Cougars have found themselves on a four game losing streak, fallingbackto fourth trailed 5-3, before Lane scored their last run o ff Oscarson in place in the South Region standings. W h en Clackam as fin ish ed th e series versus Mt. Hood Community College (12-23 overall, 10-13 inleague,) they were also in the middle of a series against Linn-Benton Community ’ College (32-2,19-1). For all the success the Cougars had against oyer 100 pitches every time. ” Freshman Derek Eubanks relieved Oscarson for the top o f th e sixth inning and kept Lane scoreless until the ninth inning, where the Cougars’ defense stumbled severely. After Mt. Hood, it was the exact opposite versus Linn-Benton, Clackamas lost all five games and were outscored 41-12 in third, Eubanks walked abatter, sophomore shortstop Renner Stecki committed a fielding error and Berry Hunt commited a fielding error. Lane scored two unearned runs before the the series. N ow 'in the m iddle o f a five gam e series versus Lane Community College, the Cougars are still struggling.Three games into the series the Cougars have been outscored 31-12. “ It’s definitely not one specific area [that’s goingwrong],” sophomore third baseman Nathan Loranger said. “ Earlier in the season it felt like everything was com ing into sync, but right now w e’re kind of having a breakdown. ” In game one o f the series the Cougars fell behind 8-3 in the seventh inning, but battled back in the eighth inning scoring three runs to tighten the score at 6-8. However, Clackamas was unable to hold Lane scoreless in the ninth, giving up two runs to widen the scoring gap to 16-6. f “ [Lane] is a really good hitting team ,” sophomore second baseman Berry Hunt said. “W e need to get a spark under us and get the bats going and the pitching too.” Game two and three o f the series were played Monday at Clackamas Community College. In game one sophomore pitcher Tyler Oscarson made his sixth start of the season. Pitchingfive innings, Oscarson walked three and gave up six runs. The Cougars scored three runs in the third to give Oscarson a little bit o f run support, but still Top: Sophortore pitcher Mason Schimmel after giving Up a grand slam agaihstTane on Monday. Bottom: Sophomore catcher Brayden Bafaro watches Lane celebrate hitting a grand slant. Clackamas Print place in the South Region, w h ich is th e last spot to qualify for postseason play, and Head Coach Jim Hoppel is n ’t pleased w ith his team’s effort recently. | the top of the fifth inning. “ Right now I need to keep m y pitch count down,” Oscarson said. “ I’ve beengoing but there for five innings and throwing J “ [The] guys are ju st n o t p layin g / like th e y should / recording two outs, Loranger made a throwing error from be,” Hoppel said, f “ I d on’t kn o w if th ey’ re nervous or I what, but w e ’re in ■ nightmare inning ended for Clackamas. “These long innings get us lazy defensively,” Hunt said. “W hen the balls get hit to out players sometim es they’re not ready for it.” Clackamas failed to score in game one and lost 10-6. Sophom ore M ason Sch im m el started gam e tw o fo r; Clackamas. Coming o ff back-to-backone-hitters, Schimmel was hoping for another strong outing, but Lanehad his number early. Lane scored four runs in the third inning and Clackamas answered with two, but w hen Lane scored three runs in the fourth the Cougars couldn’t answer. Schimmel left the game in the fifth inning after Lane scored 10 runs and lead the game 10-2. “ [Lane] canhit, they hit the ball and hit it well,” Schimmel said. “ It didn’t m atter what I threw, they hit it.” Freshman pitcher Cameron Gleason replaced Schimmel, but Lane added three more runs before the Cougars could get out o f the inning. Trailing 13-2, th e Cougars needed major run support, but failed to score and the game ended 13-2 in a playoff run and th e y should be playing their best b a s e b a ll, th e y sh ou ld b e and th e y ’re not. I feel like w e can do this and I just h o p e th e gu ys feel that w ay.” C 1 a ck a m as travels to Lane on T h u rsd ay fo r gam e four and five in hopes of ending their losing streak and locking up their first postseason berth since 2009. the fifth inning. The Cougars havefallen to 10-13 in league and are in fourth - j f e a i «
