Taft closes out regular season with doubleheader league road sweep

Taft High beat the heat and host Clatskanie twice by lopsided margins Friday for two Special District 2 victories that propelled the Tigers into the league baseball playoffs with their fifth win in a row and 10th in their last 12 games.

Ninth-ranked Taft, which finished third, a game behind Warrenton and Rainier in the SD2 standings, improved to 15-10 overall and 11-4 in league play with a 10-2 opening-game win behind junior Eli DeMello and an 11-1 win behind senior Bleiz Kimbrough in the second game.

“We battled through the heat and sitting in a bus for fours hours and came away with two wins,” Taft coach Matt Hilgers said. “It’s not easy to play two games in 80-plus degree heat for the first time all year. Our players did a good job of hydrating themselves yesterday and continuing it throughout the day.”

Taft will play a home game Thursday against the winner of a Tuesday -game between fourth-place Catlin Gabel (5-14, 5-10) and fifth-place Clatskanie (6-17, 4-11).

Senior Cody Knott had four hits and junior Lucas Hindman and DeMello three each for Taft in the first game, while freshman Kaden Hindman joined Knott and his older brother by driving in two runs each. The Hindmans and sophomore Fco Ramos scored twice for the Tigers in the opener.

Junior Trenton Fisher had three hits and joined Knott by driving in two runs in support of Kimbrough and senior reliever Tyee Fisher in the second game. Knott scored three times and Trenton Fisher, DeMello and Ramos twice each for Taft, which trailed only once all day.

“We have a couple of things to work on next week before our league playoff game on Thursday,” Hilgers said. “We plan on getting better and coming out aggressive next week and continuing this momentum.”

GAME 1
Taft 10, Clatskanie 2

TAFT              AB  R  H BI   CLATSKANIE        AB  R  H BI
Trenton Fisher     4  1  0  0   Andre Combs        3  0  0  0  
Eli DeMello        4  1  3  1   Jackson Boothe     3  0  0  0  
Cody Knott         5  0  4  2   Luke Roth          3  0  1  0  
Tyee Fisher        3  1  1  1   Cade Warren        3  1  1  0  
Bleiz Kimbrough    3  0  0  0   Foster Evenson     3  0  1  0  
Fco Ramos          3  2  2  1   Dawson Evenson     3  0  2  1  
Darius Smith       2  1  1  0   Noah Patterson     3  0  0  0  
Kaden Hindman      4  2  1  2   Chase Baker        3  0  1  0  
Lucas Hindman      4  2  3  2   Sam Shockley       1  1  0  0  
TOTALS            32 10 15  9   TOTALS            25  2  6  1

TAFT                   100 311 4 -- 10 
CLATSKANIE             011 000 0 --  2  

LOB--TAFT 8, CLATSKANIE 5. E--Fco Ramos, Luke
Roth. 2B--Fco Ramos, Kaden Hindman, Cade Warren. HBP--Fco
Ramos. SACB--Bleiz Kimbrough, Trenton Fisher, Andre Combs.
SB--Fco Ramos, Eli DeMello, Trenton Fisher (2), Darius Smith
(3).

 TAFT                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Eli DeMello (W)           7.00    6    2    1    2    6    0
 CLATSKANIE           
Andre Combs (L)           6.67   14   10    8    4    0    0
Jackson Boothe            0.33    1    0    0    1    0    0

PB--Cade Warren. SO--Jackson Boothe, Foster Evenson, Noah
Patterson, Andre Combs (3). BB--Tyee Fisher (2), Eli
DeMello, Darius Smith (2), Sam Shockley (2).

GAME 2
Taft 11, Clatskanie 1

TAFT             AB  R  H BI   CLATSKANIE        AB  R  H BI
Trenton Fisher    4  2  3  2   Andre Combs        3  0  1  0  
Eli DeMello       5  2  2  0   Jackson Boothe     1  1  0  0  
Cody Knott        2  3  1  2   Luke Roth          3  0  0  0  
Tyee Fisher       4  1  1  1   Cade Warren        3  0  1  0  
Bleiz Kimbrough   4  0  1  1   Foster Evenson     2  0  0  0  
Fco Ramos         2  2  2  1   Dawson Evenson     3  0  2  1  
Darius Smith      3  0  1  0   Noah Patterson     3  0  0  0  
Kaden Hindman     4  0  1  1   Chase Baker        2  0  0  0  
Lucas Hindman     4  1  1  1   Sam Shockley       3  0  2  0  
TOTALS           32 11 13  9   TOTALS            23  1  6  1

TAFT                    013 403 0 -- 11 
CLATSKANIE              000 100 x --  1  

LOB--TAFT 9, CLATSKANIE 8. E--Cody Knott, Luke
Roth, Dawson Evenson. 2B--Cody Knott, Sam Shockley, Dawson
Evenson. HBP--Cody Knott, Jackson Boothe (2), Chase Baker.
SB--Tyee Fisher, Lucas Hindman, Trenton Fisher, Cody Knott
(3).

 TAFT                        IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Bleiz Kimbrough (W)        4.33    5    1    1    0    3    0
Tyee Fisher                1.67    1    0    0    1    3    0
 CLATSKANIE            
Cade Warren (L)            4.00   10    8    5    3    1    0
Foster Evenson             2.00    3    3    3    2    1    0

WP--Bleiz Kimbrough (2), Foster Evenson, Cade Warren.
SO--Tyee Fisher, Trenton Fisher, Luke Roth, Sam Shockley,
Noah Patterson (2), Andre Combs, Chase Baker. BB--Fco Ramos
(2), Trenton Fisher, Darius Smith, Cody Knott, Foster
Evenson.