Santiam Christian scored four runs in the top of the 10th inning Thursday to defeat Taft High 11-7 in a nonleague baseball game at the Pit.
“We gave ourselves opportunities to win the game throughout the 10 innings but just couldn’t push that needed run across the plate,” Taft coach Matt Hilgers said.
Seniors Cody Knott and Tyee Fisher led Taft with two hits each. Knott drove in two runs and junior Eli DeMello and sophomore Darius Smith scored two each. Sophomore Ethan Thomas doubled for the Tigers’ only extra-base hit.
Taft scored a run in the first, third and fourth innings and four in the second, but surrendered six to the Eagles in the top of the third. Santiam Christian tied the game 7-7 with a run in the sixth.
“We kinda followed suit with our season,” Hilgers said. “We came out and jumped on them early again and went ahead in the first few innings. We made some mistakes that led to some of their runs in the middle innings. We battled with them for the next couple innings and went into extra innings.”
Santiam Christian, which committed seven errors and left 12 runners on base, improved to 7-2, while the Tigers, who made five errors and stranded 10, fell to 3-6.
“We are improving, but we are continuing to beat ourselves,” Hilgers said. “We just need to keep battling and eventually we will turn the corner.”
Taft returns to the diamond at 4:30 p.m. Friday at home against Dayton.
Santiam Christian 11, Taft 7 SANTIAM CHRISTIAN AB R H BI TAFT AB R H BI Logan Beem 5 2 1 0 Trenton Fisher 6 1 1 1 Ben Galceron 4 1 1 1 Eli DeMello 5 2 0 0 Rylan Kutsch 6 1 1 1 Cody Knott 4 1 2 2 Patrick Otis 4 2 1 2 Tyee Fisher 4 0 2 0 Ely Kennel 4 1 0 0 Bleiz Kimbrough 4 0 0 0 Mason Wirth 5 0 3 2 Kaden Hindman 4 1 0 1 Vandon Haugen 6 0 1 1 Darius Smith 3 2 1 0 Joe MaQautach 0 0 0 0 Lucas Hindman 1 0 0 0 Sean Riley 5 1 2 1 Trenton Hall 1 0 0 0 Josh Verdeyen 2 3 1 0 FCO Ramos 2 0 1 0 Ethan Thomas 5 0 1 1 TOTALS 41 11 11 8 TOTALS 39 7 8 5 SANTIAM CHRISTIAN 006 001 000 4 -- 11 TAFT 141 100 000 0 -- 7 LOB--Santiam Christian 12, Taft 10. E--Ely Kennel (2), Sean Riley, Patrick Otis, Rylan Kutsch (2), Lucas Hindman (2), Trenton Hall, Eli DeMello, Darius Smith. 2B--Logan Beem, Mason Wirth, Ethan Thomas. HBP--Ely Kennel, Patrick Otis, Logan Beem, Mason Wirth. SACF--Ben Galceron, Cody Knott. SACB--Lucas Hindman. SB--Josh Verdeyen, Patrick Otis, Tyee Fisher, Bleize Kimbrogh, Eli DeMello, Cody Knott (3). SANTIAM CHRISTIAN IP H R ER BB SO HR Joe MaQautach 1.67 3 5 4 4 1 0 Sean Riley 6.33 4 2 1 1 6 0 Nolan Black (W) 2.00 1 0 0 1 0 0 TAFT Eli DeMello 3.00 5 6 2 2 2 0 Trenton Fisher 4.00 3 1 1 1 1 0 Bleiz Kimbrough 1.67 0 0 0 1 0 0 Darius Smith (L) 1.33 3 4 4 2 2 0 PB--Mason Wirth (3). WP--Eli DeMello, Darius Smith. SO--Ely Kennel, Patrick Otis, Rylan Kutsch (2), Logan Beem, Tyee Fisher, Ethan Thomas, Bleize Kimbrogh (2), Trenton Hall, Kaden Hindman, Trenton Fisher. BB--Ben Galceron, Ely Kennel, Josh Verdeyen (3), Patrick Otis, Tyee Fisher, Bleize Kimbrogh, Eli DeMello, Kaden Hindman, Darius Smith (2).
