PAGE A24, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 23, 2021
McNary takes down Lebanon in home opener
McNary third baseman Trevor Ratliff fires to first base after scooping up a ground ball that
was hit down the line.
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
It had been nearly two years since
the McNary baseball squad had hosted a
game, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But
on Thursday, April 15, the Celtics made
their long awaited return to Vic Backlund
Field.
Hayden Kaiser and Dante Olivo each
threw three scoreless frames for the Celtics
while Aaron Nease went 3-for-4 with three
RBIs as McNary defeated Lebanon by a
score of 9-2.
“It’s awesome. I love playing out here.
It just feels good to be playing baseball at
our field,” McNary infielder Eben Mayer
said.
McNary head coach Larry Keeker also
shared his excitement of baseball being
back and credited his kids with putting
in a lot of work during the offseason, even
when there was uncertainty of whether or
not they would be able to play or not.
“We had kids showing up for workouts
in October, then showing up for workouts
in January. The football guys that were
pitchers and catchers came on weekends
to try to get ready. You really couldn’t
ask for anything more as a coach. It was
a sunny afternoon, we got to play a home
game. We were all just really excited,”
Keeker said.
After retiring the side in order in the
top of the first, Kaiser got into a jam in
the following inning after a pair of infield
errors. But with the bases loaded, the big
lefty ended the frame with a strikeout.
Kaiser would allow some traffic in
the following inning as well, but got out
unscathed.
“That is his role. He is going to start
about once a week with the goal of getting
to the middle innings,” Keeker said. “He
did exactly what he needed to do.”
The Celtics got their second unearned
run of the contest in the bottom of the sec-
ond after the Lebanon catcher attempted
to pick off Trevor Ratliff at third base, but
the ball sailed into left field and Ratliff
scored easily on the play to put McNary
on top 2-0.
McNary took advantage of another
defensive miscue by the Warriors as Trevor
Thompson reached after the Lebanon sec-
ond baseman dropped a pop-up. Nease
followed with a double to the left-center
gap and Thompson would later score on a
sacrifice fly by Kaiser.
Senior outfielder Griffen Hubbard then
brought in Nease after scorching a double
to deep center field, extending the Celtics
lead to 4-0.
Keeker brought in right-hander Jacob
Allen to the bump in the top of the fourth,
but the freshman struggled with his com-
mand in his first varsity appearance and
walked the bases loaded, which caused the
McNary skipper to bring in Mayer from
shortstop to try and clean up the damage.
After giving up a two-run bloop single,
Mayer forced the next hitter into an infield
pop-up. Lebanon then tried a squeeze play
with runners on third and first, but Celtics
third baseman Carter Hawley scooped the
ball with his bare hand and gave a perfect
underhand toss to catcher Ben Allen to
nail the runner at the plate.
Mayer got the following batter to
groundout to end the frame, allowing the
Celtics to still hold a 4-2 advantage.
“That is a tough spot to come in, but
that is just something I do. That’s my job.
So I came in there, pounded the zone and
got my outs,” Mayer said.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Celtics
got four straight singles by Noah Fischer,
Mayer, Thompson and Nease put McNary
on top 6-2. Hawley would get beamed with
a pitch later in the inning to extend the
lead to 7-2.
“We knew these guys weren’t throwing
hard so we had to make adjustments, get
up in the box a little bit and sit on the ball,”
Fischer said.
The Celtics got great production from
the bottom part of their lineup in this one,
which helped set the table for the guys at
the top of the order. Fischer, who was bat-
ting in the 9-hole finished 2-for-3 with a
double and a run scored. Ratliff, who was
the 8-hole hitter, scored two runs to go
along with a base hit.
“Both Trevor and Noah had great
nights at the plate. We have a lot of confi-
dence in them at the 8-9 spot,” Keeker said.
“We like the offensive lineup right now.”
The Celtics bumped the lead to 9-2 in
the bottom of the fifth after a two-run sin-
gle from Nease — McNary scored in every
inning except the sixth.
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In the top of the fifth, Olivo came to
the mound to replace Mayer. While the
hard-throwing right-hander had troubles
with control at times, Olivio worked him-
self out of a pair of bases-loaded jams in
the fifth and sixth innings.
Olivio then closed out the top of the
seventh by retiring the side in order — he
finished the with no earned runs and one
hit with four punch-outs.
“(Olivio) can be a little inconsistent
with his strike throwing, but to his credit,
he got down 3-0 in the count to a few guys
and came all the way back to get them out,”
Keeker said. “He did a really good job.
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