Host La Pine High scored four times in the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday to break a 4-4 tie and hand the No. 1-ranked Taft High baseball team its first loss of the season, 8-5.
“We came out flat and just couldn’t get it going,” first-year Taft Coach Matt Hilgers said. “We struggled defensively to make the plays that we usually make.”
The 6-1 Tigers, who collected nine hits, were led by three from sophomore Eli DeMello, who tripled twice. Seniors Josh Salsbery and Jack Stempel had two hits each for Taft against the third-rated Hawks.
Leadoff hitter Salsbery scored three times and DeMello twice for the Tigers.
“We had some good run production from the top half of our lineup today.” Hilgers said.
Taft senior starter Caleb King had a team-leading three RBIs without a hit. Junior Kam Kessler and sophomore Caleb Jones also had hits for the Tigers.
Junior reliever Bleiz Kimbrough suffered the loss for Taft, while Adam Plant earned the victory for La Pine in relief of starter Angelo Roes.
“Caleb did well on the mound battling one of his tougher outings mixed with some defensive errors,” Hilgers said. “Bleiz came in relief and also battled.”
The Class 3A Hawks (4-0) of the Mountain View Conference had their first five games canceled, but had outscored opponents 42-3 in winning their first three games before facing Taft.
“We did a good job of answering them every time they scored by scoring ourselves,” Hilgers said. “This was a good learning experience for us. We have to be ready to compete every day.”
The Tigers return to action Thursday through Saturday at the Madras spring break tournament. Taft opens against Crook County at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Taft (1-0 West Valley League) returns to league play Tuesday April 3, at Horizon Christian-Tualatin.
La Pine 8, Taft 5
TAFT AB R H BI
Josh Salsbery 3 3 2 0
Eli DeMello 4 2 3 2
Caleb King 3 0 0 3
Jack Stempel 3 0 2 0
Cody Knott 4 0 0 0
Kam Kessler 4 0 1 0
Tyee Fisher 3 0 0 0
Caleb Jones 2 0 1 0
Bleiz Kimbrough 1 0 0 0
Trenton Fisher 3 0 0 0
TOTALS 30 5 9 5
LA PINE AB R H BI
Adam Plant 4 1 1 0
Riley Pinckney 3 1 2 1
Jake Farnsworth 4 1 0 2
Wyatt DeForest 2 1 1 1
Angelo Roes 2 1 2 1
Giroux Gerhart 3 1 2 0
Eddie Price 3 1 1 0
Ben Plant 2 1 1 0
TOTALS 27 8 10 5
TAFT 002 020 1 — 5
LA PINE 100 304 x — 8
LOB–TAFT 7, LA PINE 7. ERR–Josh Salsbery, Kam Kessler, Eli DeMello, Angelo Roes. 2B–Wyatt DeForest. 3B–Eli DeMello (2). HBP–Jack Stempel, Wyatt DeForest. SACF–Caleb King, Angelo Roes, Riley Pinckney. SB—Josh Salsbery.
TAFT IP H R ER BB SO HR
Caleb King 4 6 4 2 3 4 0
Bleiz Kimbrough (L) 2 4 4 4 0 0 0
LA PINE
Angelo Roes 4 4 2 2 1 3 0
Adam Plant (W) 2.67 5 3 2 0 5 0
Wyatt DeForest (S) 0.33 0 0 0 0 1 0
PB–Eli DeMello. WP–Caleb King (2). BB–Josh Salsbery, Angelo Roes, Ben Plant, Wyatt DeForest.
