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
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f e a i
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