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SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 9, 2025 Heppner/Ione baseball splits doubleheader vs. Irrigon in league opener (Batter) Ryan Haugen gets a hold of one. -Photo by Brian Bunch By Brian Bunch On Thursday, April 3, the baseball crowd in Heppner was abuzz. The 3-2 Heppner/Ione Mus- tangs were opening league play against the 2-2 Irrigon Knights. With an afternoon high around 50 degrees, you could see the crowd re- act every time the breeze picked up while the sun was blocked by passing clouds, but when the sun was out and the breeze was negligible, the focus was on baseball. The field at Heppner High School was looking fresh with the newly completed fence and backstop upgrades. Ryan Haugen took the mound for the Mustangs in the first inning, giv- ing up a leadoff single to the Knights’ second base- man, Bennette Atkins, who would later score with a Cody Johnson RBI single. R. Haugen allowed only one run on three hits through the first two innings, picking up two strikeouts along the way. Karver Wilkins worked a walk in the bot- tom of the first but was the only Mustang to reach base in the first two innings as pitcher Kodi Maris also recorded two strikeouts for the Knights. The pitchers were keeping it tight, each of them only giving up one free pass through the first two innings. In the third inning, with one out and the Knights up 1-0, catcher Brock Locey would get a four-pitch walk from R. Haugen. Locey’s courtesy runner, Colton Akers, would go on to score on another Johnson RBI single. This triggered a “He’s a Freshman” chant from the Knight dugout, which Mustang freshman Jace Wilson surely heard. Wilson was due up second in the bottom of the third after designated hitter Bro- dy McDaniel lined out to third base. The nine-hole hitter smacked the first pitch he saw to center field for a sin- gle, flipping the order over for the Mustangs. Wilson getting on base opened up the base running for the Mustangs. Caylan Proud- foot, Alakae Rodriguez and Mason Orem joined the freshman in adding hits to the board in the bottom of the third. Wilkins and Hau- gen both reached base due to Knight errors. With the Knight defense struggling, Wilson scored the Mus- tangs’ first run, opening the gates for them to run wild. Highlighted by an Orem triple that scored two runs, the inning ended with a Keaton Coiner strikeout and a 5-2 Mustang lead. The fourth inning was fast, with both pitchers throwing a total of 17 pitch- es to get the six outs re- quired. Haugen gave up a single to Maris in the top of the fifth inning, but the pitcher was the only action on base for the Knights in the fifth and sixth innings. Proudfoot, getting his sec- ond hit of the game, led off the fifth for the Mustangs. Rodriguez, getting on base with an error, joined Proud- foot in adding runs in the fifth. The score was 7-2 for the Mustangs after five innings. In the bottom of the sixth, a trend started to emerge for the Mustangs: all of their runs had scored with two outs. The first two Mustang batters in Mason Orem gets stuck in a pickle. -Photo by Brian Bunch the sixth flew out to cen- ter field, but you could still feel the momentum on their side. Wilson reached base on a Knight error, and then George picked up a two-out RBI to reach base with his first hit of the day. Proudfoot picked up an RBI single to push George across the plate, and Wilkins joined the par- ty with his first hit of the game. The score was 9-2 for the Mustangs. The Knights tried to rally in the seventh inning with runs by Locey and Julian Gomez, but the Mus- tang defense limited the damage and kept the final score of the first game at 9-4. R. Haugen pitched a complete game, picking up his first win of the season, allowing four earned runs on eight hits. Proudfoot led the Mustang hitters with three hits for two RBIs and two runs. The Mustangs out-hit the Knights in the second game 8-7, but the three Mustang errors made the difference in runs as the Knights got the upset 7-4. Coiner got the start on the mound for the Mustangs, going 2.0 innings and giv- ing up one earned run on two hits. His two strikeouts in the first inning were soon overshadowed by the walk in the second that scored, handing him the loss. Proudfoot replaced him for the last 5.0 innings, allowing six runs (one earned) on five hits. Mustang hitters were putting in the work, led by Rodriguez with two hits on four at-bats, but the Knight defense was up for the chal- lenge. George got a leadoff single to right field in the first inning, but Knight shortstop Colton Thompson made three back-to-back plays to strand him on first. Rodriguez got a leadoff single in the second, fol- lowed by an Orem double, before Knight pitcher Ju- lian Gomez rallied for two strikeouts, and then Rodri- guez got caught stealing for the third out. Wilson worked a lead- off nine-pitch walk in the bottom of the third inning, and he also gave the Mus- tangs their first run on a Wilkins ground-out RBI. Fast-forward to the fifth inning before the Mustangs got another run after Wilson hit a leadoff single and then scored on a Haugen RBI single to right field. Mus- tang catcher Wilkins, also on base at the time of Hau- gen’s RBI, was replaced by courtesy runner Darby Spivey while at third base; Spivey went on to steal home for the second run in the inning and bring the Mustangs within two runs after five innings. George scored the last run of the game for the Mustangs on a Rodriguez RBI single after a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh inning. Proudfoot got on base in the last frame of the game but got caught up in a Wilkins double-play ball to second base. Haugen got on base with a two-out hit-by-pitch but got caught stealing third with Orem, the tying run, at the plate. The final score was 7-4 for the Knights. With both teams 1-1 in league play after the open- ing weekend, they are tied for third place in the league behind the first-place tie between Union/Cove and Grant Union/Prairie City/ Monument, who are both 2-0. Through seven games this season, Proudfoot, Ro- driguez and George lead the team, all hitting over .300, and Proudfoot and George lead the team with 10 runs each. Haugen is leading the team on the mound with a 3.500 ERA through 18.0 innings, allowing 12 runs (nine earned) on 18 hits with 16 strikeouts. Rodriguez and Coiner are leading the team in field- ing, both with 30-plus total chances and 1.000 fielding percentages. The Mustangs host Stanfield/Echo on Tues- day, April 8, at 4 p.m. and Elgin on Friday, April 11, in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Mustangs Finish Non- League Play at Home with Win The Heppner/Ione Mustangs defeated the Jo- seph/Enterprise/Wallowa Eagles 6-5 on Tuesday, April 1. Heppner’s offense was led by Karver Wilkins, who had one hit and drew two walks, and Ryan Hau- gen, who also had one hit and one RBI. Caylan Proudfoot contributed two RBIs despite having no hits and also stole a base. Ca- leb George had two stolen bases but no hits. Keaton Coiner had one hit and one RBI, while Mason Orem had one RBI. On the pitching side, Ryan Haugen pitched four innings, allowing no runs and striking out five, while Proudfoot pitched 2.1 in- nings, allowing five runs. George was credited with the win after pitching 0.2 innings. DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5PM WCCC Sunday Men’s Play Nineteen participated in the opening of Sunday Men’s Play at Willow Creek Country Club on April 6. The play format was a blind-man scramble, and the results are as follows: Special Events: KP #4-13 Roger Mor- timore, 2’7”, and KP #16 Terry Snider, 7’10”. Net—1 st Terry Snid- e r- J i m S w a n s o n , 4 6 ; 2 nd Mike Doherty-John Bowles, 51; and 3 rd Tim Hedman-Dave Gunderson, 52. G r o s s — 1 st C u r t Day-Roger Mortimore-Tom Shear, 56; 2 nd Dave Prang- er-Dallas Harsin, 57; and 3 rd Rick Johnston-Duane Disque, 61. The next play is sched- uled for Sunday, April 13. Curt Day and Tim Hedman will be hosting. WCCC men are reminded to sign up for the Wednesday night match play that will be starting on April 16. WWW.HEPPNER.NET Submit News, Advertising & Announcements Letters To The Editor Send Us Photos Start A New Subscription
