10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Knappa: ‘A lot of people are going to remember this one’
Continued from Page 1A
In his 16th year, Miller collects his
third state championship with the Log-
gers. This was the “feel good win.”
“You don’t forget any of ’em, because
it’s the kids that you remember,” he said.
“But in a baseball sense, a lot of people
are going to remember this one.”
Braves in charge for five
For five innings, the game and the
good memories belonged to the Braves,
who were making their first state champi-
onship appearance since 1990.
Aggressive base-running, squeeze
bunts that brought in runs, extra-base
hits, a young pitcher that had Knappa hit-
ters off balance … the Braves were look-
ing like the Loggers, before the Loggers
started looking like the Loggers.
“It looked like we were the team that
had never been here before,” coach Miller
said. “Nervous mistakes, unable to hit
spots from the mound … it wasn’t us, for
whatever reason.”
A low point for the Loggers — after
Reedsport’s Wayde Doane scored on a
squeeze bunt by Korde Parmenter in the
third inning, Knappa’s return throw to the
mound went over the head of pitcher Dale
Takalo, and Griffin Lavigne raced all the
way in from second base to score for a 5-0
lead.
And it got worse before it got better.
Knappa freshman Eli Takalo took
over on the mound in the fourth, and the
Braves greeted the freshman with two
straight hits, including a triple by Joseph
Hixenbaugh that scored Marc Chaney,
and another squeeze bunt by Nick Glover
that brought in Hixenbaugh for a 7-0
advantage.
And finally, a Logger error in the top
of the fifth put runners at first and second,
which was followed by Parmenter’s sacri-
fice bunt and a two-run single from Kyle
Barnes for a seemingly safe 9-1 lead.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Knappa Loggers won the state championship on a walk-off after being down 9-1 earlier in the game Friday in Keizer
against Reedsport. More photos from the state championship game online at DailyAstorian.com/sports
Sweet dreams, nightmares
But the comeback that will provide
sweet dreams for the Logger faithful, is
also going to give nightmares to Reed-
sport fans for years to come.
The Braves had several opportunities
to secure a win in the late stages of the
game.
In the bottom of the sixth, Knappa’s
Logan Bartlett drove in Dale Takalo, and
an errant pickoff attempt by the Braves
allowed Andrew Goozee to score a sec-
ond run, bringing Knappa to within 9-3.
In the top of the seventh, Reedsport’s
first two batters reached base, but both
were gunned down by Logger catcher
Kaleb “Bubba” Miller, who threw out
Parmenter at third and Javier Analco at
second.
Both were huge outs, because Chaney
followed with a walk, then took second
on a wild pitch, before Takalo got Hixen-
baugh to fly out to center, keeping Knappa
within six runs.
Reedsport’s starter on the mound,
freshman Dallas McGill, threw six solid
innings, but simply ran out of steam in the
bottom of the seventh, when he gave up
a leadoff walk to Kaleb Miller, hit Cruz
with a pitch, and gave up a single to Dale
Takalo to load the bases with no outs.
McGill was replaced by Barnes, and
Barnes’ luck wasn’t any better, as the
sophomore beaned the only two batters he
faced to force in a pair of runs.
And that’s about where it came unrav-
eled for the Braves.
Chaney replaced Barnes on the mound,
and he was greeted with a sharp single to
left field by Logan Bartlett.
“Once Bartlett got the hit, that’s when
I really felt like, we’re gonna win this,”
Jason Miller said. “Once (McGill) came
out, I didn’t feel like there was anything
that could stop us.”
Still, Chaney responded with two
straight strikeouts, to bring Reedsport to
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Knappa Loggers celebrate winning the state championship Friday in Keiz-
er against Reedsport.
The 3-Run Barrier
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Mason Hoover, right, attempts the pick-off for the Knappa Loggers during the
state championship game against Reedsport.
within one out of victory.
And he was within one strike of clos-
ing the game with full counts on both
Jason Miller and Kaleb Miller, but Chaney
walked both to force in two more runs,
setting the stage for Cruz’s game-winning
hit.
Chaney also had a 1-2 count on Cruz,
when Cruz singled through the left side
of the infield, scoring pinch runner Jacob
Ford and Jason Miller, the Knappa senior
who slid across home plate with the
game-winner.
For Miller, the sprint to the plate ended
the game, his high school career, and
sparked one big Knappa celebration.
SCOREBOARD
BASEBALL
2A/1A State Championship
Knappa 10, Reedsport 9
Reedsport 212 220 0—9 8 4
Knappa
000 102 7—9 7 3
McGill, Barnes (7), Hixenbaugh
(7) and Lavigne; D.Takalo, E.Taka-
lo (4) and K.Miller. W: E. Takalo.
L: Hixenbaugh. RBI: Reedsport,
Glover 2, Barnes 2, Hixenbaugh,
McGill, Lavigne, Parmenter; Knap-
pa, Cruz 2, Bartlett 2, J.Miller, K.
Miller, Hoover, Goozee, E.Takalo.
2B: Reedsport, McGill, Lavigne.
3B: Reedsport, Hixenbaugh. HBP:
Reedsport, Doane 2, Lavigne, Par-
menter; Knappa, K.Miller, Cruz,
Hoover, Goozee. SH: Reedsport,
Glover 2, Parmenter 2, Rohde. SF:
Knappa, E.Takalo. SB: Reedsport,
Parmenter; Knappa, Goozee. CS:
Reedsport, Parmenter, Analco.
Umpires: HP-Jamey Fisher;
1B-Earl Breon; 3B-Tom Brainard.
Players of the Game: Dallas
we started moving around the bases, I real-
ized then that this was going to be our
time,” Cruze said.
Jason Miller had been Knappa’s last out
of the sixth inning, grounding out to sec-
ond to strand two base runners.
“I was pretty bummed about that
at-bat,” he said. “I thought it would be my
last for sure, and I thought, ‘I can’t have
that be my last high school at-bat.’ I’m glad
I got another chance.
“Our dugout did a good job of never
giving up,” Miller added. “You get down
a little on yourself, but we knew that it
wasn’t over. We knew that we could hit off
those guys — it was just a matter of when
we could do it. It finally clicked in the last
inning.”
Instead of the freshman McGill, it was
the freshman Eli Takalo who picked up the
win on the mound.
“Eli did a great job,” Jason Miller said.
“Not a lot of freshmen could come in and
do what he did right there.”
Coach Miller added, “I give a lot of
credit to our freshman who came in, for
what most people in the crowd were prob-
ably figuring ‘mop-up duty,’” trailing 5-0.
“And he kept us in there, until we finally
put some pressure on.”
McGill (Reedsport); Reuben Acos-
ta-Cruz (Knappa).
‘Toughest three outs’
Entering the bottom of the seventh,
coach Miller said “we just gave a reminder
that these are going to be the toughest
three outs that (the Braves) are ever going
to have. Just take care of the technical
stuff — take pitches until you get a strike,
crowd the plate, let the pitcher feel pres-
sure, and see what happens.”
It wasn’t a pretty game, numberswise,
with a combined 11 walks and eight hit
batters. But the HBPs (hit by pitches) kept
the Loggers alive.
Cruz batted twice in the big rally, draw-
ing a hit by pitch to help start the comeback.
“In the last inning, when I got on and
Visions of Victory
For Cruz, “I broke my leg last summer
(playing summer baseball), and I remem-
ber just sitting on my bed for three months
straight, and thinking ‘I want to be back,
we’re going win it this year, and I’m going
to do everything I can and hope it comes
down to me.’
“I didn’t think it would happen, but I
kind of envisioned it.”
Oregon State claims regional with 8-1 win over Yale
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
6A Baseball
Clackamas 5, West Linn 1
5A Baseball
Churchill 5, Crater 1
4A Baseball
La Grande 8, Henley 5
3A Baseball
St. Mary’s 5, Glide 3
2A/1A Baseball
Knappa 10, Reedsport 9
6A Softball
North Medford 11, Westview 3
5A Softball
Marist 12, Dallas 7
4A Softball
Henley 8, Crook County 6
3A Softball
Rainier 3, Dayton 2
2A/1A Softball
North Douglas 3, Pilot Rock 1
In all five of their championship game
appearances, the Loggers had never scored
more than three runs.
It wasn’t exactly Chuck Yeager break-
ing the sound barrier, but Knappa finally
broke the three-run barrier in a state title
game.
In Miller’s three previous champion-
ship games, the Loggers defeated Hep-
pner (3-1) and Monroe (3-0), and lost a 4-3
decision to Burns last year.
“We talked about that (Thursday),”
he said. “Five times in Knappa’s history,
we’ve never scored over three runs in a
championship.”
And, during the seventh inning rally,
“we actually mentioned it when we got our
fifth run — ‘Hey! We’ve scored five!’”
Mark Ylen/Albany Democrat-Herald
Oregon State’s Michael Gretler (10) celebrates his home
run against Yale with Trevor Larnach (11) and Adley
Rutschman, behind Larnach, during an NCAA college
baseball regional tournament game in Corvallis Sunday.
CORVALLIS — Michael Gretler hit a three-run home run
in the third inning and No. 1 national seed Oregon State went
onto to win the Corvallis Regional with an 8-1 victory over
Yale on Sunday night.
It was the 19th straight win for the Beavers (51-4), who will
face the winner of the Clemson Regional.
Alex Stiegler hit an RBI double in the first inning to give
Yale (34-17) the early lead. Earlier in the day Stiegler went
3-for-3 and drove in five runs to lead the Bulldogs to a 9-5 vic-
tory over Holy Cross and stay alive in the double-elimination
regional.
Steven Kwan scored on Trevor Larnach’s fielder’s choice
grounder in the bottom of the first to even the score. Two Yale
errors allowed a pair of Oregon State runs in the bottom of the
third inning before Gretler’s home run.
Nick Madrigal had four base-hit bunts in the game. Brandon
Eisert (5-0) pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for the win.