WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11
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Tigers 6WDQ¿HOGVWD\VKRWDJDLQVW5LYHUVLGH
Fourteen-run fourth
propels
hunting inning
Tigers to blowout
for title
I
went home for Easter this weekend
and had a good time with my family
making jokes about each other. Most
of them ended up being about me. As my
dad says, “Ça va.”
But while I was there, I told as many
people who would listen about this
small-school baseball team that’s been
hot as Indian curry. I mentioned their run
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game of the season and its dominating
nature. I told them I haven’t seen a
baseball team this good in awhile.
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Tigers and their unbelievable start to the
season.
Let’s take a look at some team stats
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run differential, which is posted over at
OSAA.org. In six games,
the Tigers have allowed 10
runs and scored — wait for
it — 91. Ninety-one!. They
are yet to score fewer than
10 runs in a game and have
scored 20 or more twice.
They’re hitting .462 as a
Sam
team with a team-wide on-
Barbee
base-plus-slugging of 1.195.
FROM THE
SIDELINES
Their on-base percentage
is .545. Their slugging
percentage is .651. I don’t even know
what to do with these numbers. I can’t
quantify them. All I can do is gape and
say, “That’s pretty good, right?”
Let’s take a look at some individual
numbers now through six games. You
might want to sit down.
Thyler Monkus, a rarity in that he
catches and leads off, is batting .667. Let
that sink in for a second. He’s 14-for-21
at the plate. He’s got an OBP of .750, a
slugging of 1.143, giving him an unreal
and unfair OPS of 1.893. He’s got two
triples already. He’s got three doubles
and a homer. He’s scored 17 runs already.
Alone, he’s scored more runs than two
teams in the Eastern Oregon League.
Dylan Grogan is right up there with
the junior catcher. Grogan’s slash line:
.611/.652/.889. Again, what do you
even do with these? Celebrate them,
obviously, but the only word I can
come up to describe them is gaudy, and
gaudy has some connotations that would
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the real deal.
But it’s not just the Grogan and
Monkus show offensively. Four other
guys — Tony Flores, Brody Woods,
Makiah Blankenship and Ryan Bailey
— are hitting .500 or better through
six games. Each has an OBP of .500 or
better. Jason Fitzpatrick is hitting .438
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OPSs over 1.000.
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offensive team. But they can play
defense, too.
Grogan started the 2016 season with
a perfect game over Union. He’s tossed
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(four earned) on nine hits while striking
out 21 and walking just four. His ERA,
at 2.80, seems massive compared to his
teammates’. Keith Wampler is the only
other Tiger pitcher to allow an earned
run, and he only gave up one in 4.0 IP,
giving him a 1.75 ERA. Flores has 9.0 IP
without allowing an earned run. Woods
has tossed 7.0 IP of clean ball, and Bailey
and Adrian Renner have hurled clean
innings, as well.
But here’s the thing about this
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isn’t the talent and skill. It’s the attitude.
After Grogan tossed his perfecto, I tried
to get him to talk about it a little. Maybe
I’d get a good quote about feeling good
and wanting to do it. I don’t even know if
Grogan had known what happened until I
mentioned it. He was just concerned with
the team winning.
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won,” he said.
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expectations of winning a title last year,
and was ousted in the second round of
the state playoffs. This team is intent on
changing that outcome and winning the
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winning the 2A/1A division in 2011.
These numbers won’t stay as crazy as
they are now. That’s nearly impossible.
But they do indicate the level this
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a really high level; a state title-winning
level.
— Sam Barbee is a sports reporter
for the Hermiston Herald and East
Oregonian based out of Hermiston. He
can be reached by email at sbarbee@
hermistonherald.com or on Twitter @
SamBarbee1. Follow Herald Sports @
HHeraldSports.
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off a combined no-hitter.
On offense, the Tigers’ bats
started off slow against Pirates
starter Wayne Killion, man-
aging four hits and three runs
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But in the fourth inning, it
By ERIC SINGER
Staff Writer
went off the rails for Riverside,
For the sixth time this DV6WDQ¿HOGEDWWHGWKURXJKWKH
VHDVRQ WKH 6WDQ¿HOG 7LJHUV lineup twice to put up 14 runs
reached the double-digit runs to grab a stranglehold on the
game.
mark in a game.
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6WDQ¿HOG REOLWHUDWHG OHDJXH
foe Riverside 22-1 in a Co- as 15 men reached base —
lumbia Basin match-up last nine hits, four walks, and two
Wednesday afternoon, continu- hit-by-pitches — including a
ing the team’s incredible tear to stretch of nine of the last 10 in
the inning.
start the season.
Ryan Bailey, Tony Flores,
Junior Tony Flores got the
start on the mound for the Ti- and Jason Fitzpatrick each had
gers and he shut out the Pirates a team-high three hits in the
over four innings, allowing no game, while Bailey led with
hits and just two walks to go ¿YH5%,V7K\OHU0RQNXVDQG
with seven strikeouts. Adrian Keith Wampler each scored
Renner came on in relief to four times.
It was the second time this
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he allowed just one run (un- VHDVRQ WKDW 6WDQ¿HOG HFOLSVHG
the 20-run plateau, as well as
the fourth time that the game
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differential.
The Tigers have now scored
91 runs in their six games this
season — an average of 15.2
per game — which is the most
in all of the OSAA by more
than 30 runs. In the same span,
the team has allowed just 10
runs — or 1.7 per game — as
the pitching staff has thrown a
perfect game and a combined
no-hitter in the young season.
So what is the teams’ secret
to the surge?
“We’ve just been putting to-
gether good games all the way
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an Johnson said. “We’ve em-
phasized good at-bats up and
down the order and throwing
strikes on the mound ... we ha-
ven’t played perfect baseball,
but they’ve played pretty well
so far.”
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by its wealth of experience
as well, as the team returned
all but one player from the
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20 wins and a trip to the state
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On the mound, Dylan Gro-
gan and Tony Flores have
been solid at the front end of
the pitching staff, combining
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40 strikeouts and seven walks
over 19 innings so far.
And in the batters box,
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.462 team batting average as
the lineup has established itself
with tough at-bats every time
up.
Johnson said with this type
of roster he knew a good start
was possible, but he did not ex-
pect to see this type of outburst.
“I didn’t expect us to win by
these wide margins, that’s for
sure,” he said. “But these kids
See TIGERS, A12
Echo uses big innings to down Colton
Mackenzie
Gonzales strikes
out 10 in dominant
performance
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
On a chilly Thursday af-
ternoon with a biting wind
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two innings separated the
Echo Cougars and Colton Vi-
kings in a 3A interconference
matchup in Echo.
The Cougars scored eight
runs in the bottom of the sec-
ond, buoyed by three Vikings
errors, and plated six runs in
the fourth en route to a 14-1
mercy-rule shellacking.
“We hit the ball hard to-
day,” Echo (2-1) coach Bryan
Bailey said. “We had some
hard-hit balls. We executed
bunts. We executed hit-and-
runs. We executed stolen bas-
es. Overall, they played well
today. I was pleased.”
Mackenzie
Gonzales
tossed an abbreviated com-
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nings, allowing just one
earned run on two hits while
striking out 10 and walk-
ing just two. Bailey wanted
the junior hurler to work on
starting at-bats ahead with
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starting behind and going
deep into counts, elevating
the pitch count.
“There’s no doubt that
(Gonzales) brings a high stan-
dard when she steps in that
circle,” Bailey said. “That
was our big goal today. I said,
‘Let’s not walk any lead-off
hitters and then work from
there.’ And she did a great
job. She threw strikes. She
was consistent. Her defense
backed her up.”
Thursday, Gonzales was
masterful getting ahead of hit-
ters. Of the 19 at-bats Gonza-
les pitched, 14 of them start-
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fact, the worst initial count
Gonzales ever faced was 2-0
in the top of the second, an at-
bat she ended with a soft pop-
up into her own glove. Gon-
zales’ third-inning walk came
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ning walk started with a ball
before going full.
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strike rate of about 65 percent
(91 pitches, 59 strikes).
“I trust my defense,” Gon-
zales said. “They’re great.
They work hard. They put
themselves in front of every
ball, no matter what.”
The junior was also effec-
tive with her change-up, al-
lowing just one hit on the bru-
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off the bat of Cassondra Neff,
plating Shelby Marshall for
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run.
“Sometimes it happens,
sometimes it doesn’t,” catch-
er Erika Parks said of the
STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BARBEE
Echo junior Mackenzie Gonzales delivers a pitch early during the Cougars’ 14-0 rout of Colton on
Thursday in Echo.
STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BARBEE
Echo senior Cheyenne +illiard sZings at a pitch during the Àrst inning of Echo’s 14-1 Zin over Colton on
Thursday in Echo.
bloop single. “She also struck
out three hitters with it, too.”
Offensively, Echo played
complete. Nine different
Cougars scored runs. Nine
different Cougars had hits.
Seven different Cougars had
RBI. Parks had two RBI and
a double, Cynthia Curiel had
two RBI and a double, Alex
Pollick had two RBIs and a
double, and Cheyenne Hil-
liard, Jamie Christopher, Mo-
See ECHO, A12