Kam Kessler and Bleiz Kimbrough combined on a three-hitter and fellow senior Cody Knott drove home two runs Thursday as the Taft High baseball team opened its season with a 4-3 home victory over Toledo.
“This was our first game of the year and it showed,” Taft coach Matt Hilgers said. “We had some of the typical first-game jitters. We made a few errors that we will need to clean up that are out of character for us. Mentally, we just didn’t have the right approach for tonight’s game.”
Taft broke a 3-3 tie following a three-run third inning by the Boomers with the game’s winning run in the bottom of the fifth off starter and loser Jaxon Rozewski.
“We found a way to get a win when we did not play our best baseball,” Hilgers said. “Sometimes, you just have to scrap and hope you find yourself on the winning side and that is where we were tonight. We were happy to win, but we understand we need to get better in order to compete at a higher level moving forward. We will be addressing some of our weaknesses in the near future and look to start playing towards our potential.”
Taft scored twice in the first inning and once in the fifth to make a winner of Kimbrough, who struck out six in three innings of relief of Kessler, who left with a one-hitter in the fifth.
Knott doubled for the game’s only extra-base hit, while senior outfielder Tyee Fisher had a single and an RBI and junior catcher Eli DeMello a single and scored a run for the Tigers.
“We got the win, but we’re not satisfied,” Kessler said. “We’re going to have to work hard in practice. Everybody’s gotta get on the same page.”
Taft returns to action at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Santiam Christian.
Taft 4, Toledo 3 TOLEDO AB R H BI TAFT AB R H BI Coren Loper 3 1 0 0 Darius Smith 2 2 0 0 Mason McAlpine 2 1 1 0 Eli DeMello 3 1 1 0 Donovan Villanueva 3 0 0 0 Cody Knott 3 0 1 2 Marcus Cross 4 1 0 0 Kam Kessler 1 0 0 0 Ashton Retherford 3 0 0 0 Tyee Fisher 3 0 1 1 Bubba Barnhart 1 0 0 0 Trenton Hall 3 0 0 0 Ryder Smith 2 0 1 0 Trenton Fisher 2 0 0 0 Spencer Tower 3 0 0 0 Bleize Kimbrogh 3 0 0 0 Jaxon Rozewski 3 0 1 0 Jordan Hall 2 0 0 0 Fco Ramos 0 0 0 0 Ethan Thomas 0 1 0 0 TOTALS 24 3 3 0 TOTALS 22 4 3 3 TOLEDO 003 000 0 -- 3 TAFT 201 010 x -- 4 LOB--Toledo 7, Taft 4. E--Donovan Villanueva, Marcus Cross, Bleize Kimbrogh, Eli DeMello, Cody Knott. 2B--Cody Knott. HBP--Mason McAlpine, Coren Loper. SACB--Donovan Villanueva. SB--Donovan Villanueva, Mason McAlpine, Jaxon Rozewski, Kam Kessler, Darius Smith. TOLEDO IP H R ER BB SO HR Jaxon Rozewski (L) 5 3 4 3 3 5 0 Mason McAlpine 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 TAFT Kam Kessler 4 1 3 0 4 2 0 Bleize Kimbrogh (W) 3 2 0 0 0 6 0 PB--Ashton Retherford, Eli DeMello. WP--Jaxon Rozewski (4). SO--Ryder Smith, Donovan Villanueva (2), Marcus Cross (2), Spencer Tower, Bubba Barnhart, Coren Loper, Bleiz Kimbrough, Trenton Hall (2), Trenton Fisher, Jordan Hall (2). BB--Ryder Smith, Mason McAlpine, Bubba Barnhart (2), Kam Kessler (2), Trenton Fisher, Darius Smith.
