SPORTS
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015
UNDEFEATED: 27-0
Continued from Page 1A
and knocking on the door, and
obviously they’re excited and
felt that they would get this mo-
ment.”
Knappa senior Justin Dra-
goo — a player of few words
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championship was “surreal.
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got one.”
‘Ready to go’
The Dragons may have
been the favorites on paper, but
everyone could see a Logger
victory coming right down In-
terstate 5.
Knappa got off the bus at
Volcanoes Stadium carrying a
26-0 overall record, which in-
cluded a win over Monroe the
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The Loggers have been
playing great defense, their
pitchers were well-rested,
and the Knappa players were
“excited for the opportunity,”
Miller said shortly before the
contest.
“They’ve put in a lot of
work, and they feel like they
belong here. I think there’s a
good edge, a good looseness
to them. They’re excited and
ready to go.”
Once the game started, the
boys from the North Coast
withstood the nearly 90-degree
heat of the Willamette Valley.
The players from Monroe did
not.
While the Loggers made all
the routine plays, the Dragons
suffered a defensive meltdown.
Monroe’s ace pitcher, Aus-
tin Crowson, allowed just six
hits with six strikeouts. But ev-
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ball was an adventure for the
defending champions, who
turned a few nice plays, but
booted some even bigger ones.
The Dragons set the tone on
the second batter of the game,
when Knappa’s Jason Mill-
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The next batter — older broth-
er Andy Miller — launched
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lost the ball in the sun.
Andy Miller ended up
on third, but his brother was
thrown out at the plate, and the
Dragons eventually got out of
the inning.
After scoreless second
and third innings, the Monroe
miscues turned up again in the
fourth.
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ball to left was dropped by the
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Miller to reach second; Dra-
goo drew an intentional walk;
and Noah Kinney reached on
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load the bases.
Nate Truax drove in the
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which the Dragons also mis-
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base.
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catcher Tielar Murray turned in
the defensive play of the game.
The Loggers missed an
attempted squeeze bunt, and
Murray was able to run down
Dragoo as he was headed back
to third, then tagged Kinney
out trying to reach third for an
unassisted double play.
“We had the right guy (Dale
Takalo) there, and we’d do
it again,” coach Miller said.
“He’s a great player, he missed
it, and you have to move on.
And we did. Our kids rolled
with those early punches really
well.”
The Dragons, however, did
not roll very well.
Austin Dragoo was hit by
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ning and took second on a wild
pitch; Tyson Burnard had a
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Dragoo scored moments later
on a wild pitch.
After a walk to Jason Mill-
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to center, which was caught
by Kyle Bateman, but deep
enough for Burnard to tag and
score.
That was all the runs the
Loggers could score, but it was
plenty for Rusinovich.
“As soon as we scored our
second run, we knew it was
ours,” Justin Dragoo said. “I
knew it was ours. Chase is go-
ing to shut ‘em down and Ty-
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Coach Miller said, “With
Crowson on the other side,
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six runs, but realistically we
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Knappa’s Tyson Burnard, center, celebrates with Chase Rusinovich, No. 10, and Dale Takalo, No. 5, after winning the 2A Baseball State Championship
at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer on Friday.
SCOREBOARD
BASEBALL
HIGH SCHOOLS
2A State Championship
Knappa 3, Monroe 0
Knappa
000 120 0—3
6
0
Monroe
000 000 0—0
3
5
Rusinovich, Burnard (7) and
Truax; Crowson and Murray.
Win: Rusinovich. Loss: Crow-
son. Save: Burnard. RBI: Kna,
Truax, A.Miller. 3B: Kna, A.Mill-
er, Burnard. SF: Kna, A.Miller.
SB: Kna, Burnard, J.Dragoo.
CS: Kna, J.Dragoo, Kinney. E:
Monroe, Sherman 2, K.Bal-
lard, Bateman. LOB: Knappa 7,
Monroe 6. WP: Mon, Crowson
2. HBP: Kna, A.Dragoo; Mon,
A.Crowson, Gwillim. DP: Knap-
pa. Monroe 2.
Umpires—HP: Dan Clements.
1B: Rob Sellars, Sr. 3B: Tony
Gabirelson. Start: 1:32 p.m.
Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes.
Moda Health Players of
the Game: Chase Rusinovich,
Knappa; Kyle Bateman, Monroe.
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Knappa hoists the first-place trophy after winning the OSAA 2A Baseball State Championship at Volcanoes Stadium in
Keizer on Friday. Knappa beat Monroe 3-0. View more photos online at www.dailyastorian.com
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Knappa’s Jason Miller, No. 33, rounds second in the
first inning against Monroe during the 2A Baseball State
Championship at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer on Friday.
Knappa’s Chase Rusinovich, No. 10, pitches in the sixth
inning against Monroe during the 2A Baseball State
Championship at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer on Friday.
thought we better keep (Mon-
roe) under three today.
“Chase stood tall and did
that for us. We let ‘em off the
hook a few times, but with the
way our pitchers were throw-
ing today, that three-run lead
felt pretty good.”
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the double play.
Threat over.
“It’s a 21-out game, and the
last three always seem to be
tough,” Miller said. “Ty did a
great job. He doesn’t feel the
pressure. He just gets more ex-
cited and more of a ‘bulldog’
type attitude, the tighter and
bigger the moments are. It’s
that kind of an attitude that al-
lows a team to achieve at this
level.”
All season, Knappa’s strat-
egy of starting Rusinovich and
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unbeatable.
“That’s how we started out
against Regis,” Burnard said.
“Chase builds it up, then I
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a lot better because my arm
doesn’t have the stamina that
Chase does.”
Andy Miller said, “Chase
was on his game today. His
pitches had a lot of movement,
and his curve ball was breaking
good.”
Burnard and Truax had
two hits apiece to lead Knap-
weren’t able to really touch the
curve ball, and the outside fast-
ball, they couldn’t touch that
either.”
Defensively, the Dragons
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“I always feel that the team
batting has a little bit to do with
that,” Jeff Miller said. “I also
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think (the Dragons) are not
from the get-go
used to that many balls coming
Rusinovich struck out 11 into play when (Crowson) is
batters in six-plus innings, on the mound. So if you have
allowing two hits, with two DIDVWKDUGLQ¿HOGOLNHWKLVDQG
walks and two hit batters.
you put the ball in play hard,
³, IHOW FRQ¿GHQW IURP WKH good things happen. Make a
get-go, but once we scored a team make decisions under
few, it really took some pres- pressure, and in high school
sure off,” Rusinovich said.
baseball, good things are going
“I had all my pitches work- to happen.”
ing,” he added. “Warming up, I
Some good things almost
knew it was going to be a good happened for the Dragons in
day. I had good control and my the bottom of the seventh.
breaking ball was working. My
Monroe opened with a hit
arm felt great, and it was easy batter, a walk and a single by
to keep my pitch count low. Bateman to load the bases.
The heat wasn’t a problem at
Burnard came on in relief of
all. It actually made me pitch Rusinovich, and later called the
better.”
bases-loaded, no-outs situation
Rusinovich said, “My “very nerve-wracking,” until
strikeout pitch was my curve pinch-hitter Tyson Horning de-
ball today. I was keeping them livered a weak grounder back
off-balance pretty well. They to Burnard, who threw home
pa, while Justin Dragoo was
walked intentionally twice.
“Everybody says it’s a good
thing, but I don’t like it,” Dra-
goo said. “I like to hit. I guess
it’s respect.”
Defensively, the Loggers
committed no errors behind
Rusinovich.
“I’ve said all year, this is
as good a defensive squad as
we’ve had,” coach Miller said.
“It’s what our recipe has been
this year — good defense,
good pitching, put the ball in
the play, and good things will
happen.”
‘It’s awesome’
Once the championship
trophy and medals had been
presented in the post-game
ceremony, senior Andy Miller
stated, “It’s awesome. I can’t
believe it’s my last game al-
ready.”
Miller’s past includes
watching the Loggers play
in state championship games
(“When I was watching
that 2010 game, I thought it
would be awesome to experi-
ence that”), but also an inju-
State Championship Scores
6A-Sheldon 2, West Linn 1
5A-Hood River Valley 2, Lib-
erty 0
4A-Scappoose 11, Henley 6
3A-Santiam Christian 3, Glide
0
2A/1A-Knappa 3, Monroe 0
Clatsop County Baseball
State Champions
Year: Team, Coach
1957: Seaside (A-2) Baily Brim
1960: Seaside (A-2) Everet
Clary
1972: Seaside (AA) Jim Auld
1994: Warrenton (2A/1A) Len-
nie Wolfe
2006: Astoria (3A) Dave Gas-
ser
2009: Astoria (4A) Dave Gas-
ser
2010: Knappa (2A/1A) Jeff
Miller
2011: Astoria (4A) Brian Bab-
bitt
2015: Knappa (2A/1A) Jeff
Miller
SOFTBALL
State Championship Scores
6A-Tualatin 10, Westview 0
5A-Putnam 3, Pendleton 2
4A-McLoughlin 4, Banks 0
3A-Dayton 5, Rainier 1
2A/1A-Pilot
Rock
2,
Weston-McEwen 1
ry-plagued high school career
which forced him out of foot-
ball and to miss part of or en-
tire seasons in basketball and
baseball.
It’s been a long road, Mill-
er said, “but this makes it all
worth it.”
Despite not facing much
competition during league
play, and despite not having
a summer team last year, the
Loggers were clearly the best
team at the 2A/1A level.
Knappa could very well be
back in Keizer next year, the
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“I hope so,” Burnard said
of next year’s team. “We set a
good enough example. I hope
they know what to do now.”
• Check out interviews with
the Knappa players and coach
at The Daily Astorian’s You-
Tube channel: https://www.
youtube.com/user/DailyAsto-
rian/videos