First-inning eruption leads Taft to 11-3 home baseball win

Taft High bats erupted for eight first-inning runs Thursday and senior Tyee Fisher notched the win on the mound for the Tigers in an 11-3 nonconference home baseball victory over Yamhill-Carlton.

“We played better tonight,” Taft coach Matt Hilgers said following an error-prone 11-10 road loss to Santiam Christian to start the week. “We came out aggressive in the first inning and put some pressure on them. We had a good energy before the game and it carried over.”

Junior catcher Eli DeMello collected three hits, including two doubles, and joined sophomore Darius Smith and senior Cody Knott by scoring two times for Taft, which improved to 2-1 with the win.

Senior third baseman Kam Kessler had two hits, including a triple, and two RBIs for Taft, while junior Trenton Fisher also had two hits.

“Overall, we played our best game today,” Hilgers said. “I was a little disappointed that we had a lull there in the middle innings when we did not get much accomplished from the offensive end, but we managed to maintain our lead and hold them off.”

The Tigers played error-free baseball for the first time this season and collected nine hits and stole four bases behind Fisher and relievers Lucas Hindman and Knott.

Yamhill-Carlton, which managed just four hits, fell to 3-2.

“We didn’t commit an error tonight, which is something we will look to continue on defense,” Hilgers said. “We will continue working hard and looking to get better each day.”

Taft returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday against Brookings Harbor at the Pit.

Taft 11, Yanhill-Carlton 3

YAMHILL CARLTON      AB  R  H BI  TAFT              AB  R  H BI
Eli Potter            2  0  0  0  Darius Smith       3  2  1  2  
 Owen Carney          1  0  0  0  Eli DeMello        4  2  3  1  
Joey McGhehey         1  0  1  1  Cody Knott         3  2  1  1  
Wyatt Hurley          3  0  1  0  Kam Kessler        4  1  2  2  
Jacob Preston         3  0  0  0  Tyee Fisher        4  1  0  1  
Tiger Reimann         3  0  0  0  Trenton Fisher     3  1  2  0  
Carson Bennet         1  0  0  0  Bleize Kimbrogh    3  0  0  1  
 Sam Dixon            2  0  0  0  Jordan Hall        2  1  0  0  
 Brycen Williams      0  0  0  0  Kaden Hindman      3  1  0  1  
Paden Elliot          2  2  1  0                                    
Colby Stehr           2  0  1  0                                    
 Zach Bischof         1  0  0  0                                    
Mikel Rivas           1  1  0  0                                    
TOTALS               22  3  4  1  TOTALS            29 11  9  9

YAMHILL CARLTON          001 101 0 --  3  
TAFT                     800 003 x -- 11 

LOB--Yamhill-Carlton 12, Taft 5. E--Carson Bennet,
Wyatt Hurley, Joey McGhehey, Eli Potter. 2B--Eli DeMello
(2), Darius Smith. 3B--Kam Kessler. HBP--Tiger Reimann, Owen
Carney, Joey McGhehey, Paden Elliot (2). SACF--Bleize
Kimbrogh. SACB--Mikel Rivas. SB--Mikel Rivas, Eli DeMello,
Darius Smith, Cody Knott (2).

 YAMHILL CARLTON               IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Mikel Rivas (L)              1.00    5    8    3    2    0    0
Sam Dixon                    4.33    3    3    3    2    5    0
Brycen Williams              0.67    1    0    0    0    0    0
 TAFT                  
Tyee Fisher (W)              3.33    1    2    2    5    4    0
Lucas Hindman                2.00    2    1    1    1    1    0
Cody Knott                   1.67    1    0    0    2    0    0

PB--Paden Elliot (5). WP--Tyee Fisher (3), Lucas Hindman.
SO--Jacob Preston, Owen Carney, Sam Dixon, Eli Potter (2),
Kam Kessler, Jordan Hall (2), Darius Smith, Cody Knott.
BB--Wyatt Hurley, Jacob Preston, Mikel Rivas (2), Joey
McGhehey (2), Colby Stehr, Brycen Williams, Trenton Fisher,
Jordan Hall, Darius Smith, Cody Knott.