Well, that’s one way to preserve your pitching staff and avoid the grueling undertaking of Friday doubleheaders.
Taft High erupted for 52 runs and surrendered just four to sweep a Special District 2 doubleheader from Willamina 22-0 and 30-4 in two road games abbreviated to five innings each by the state’s 10-run mercy rule.
“We played well today,” Taft coach Matt Hilgers said. “We came out aggressive and kept on them for two games. We threw strikes and had a better approach at the plate.”
Senior starter Bleiz Kimbrough went three innings and junior Jordan Hall two in combining for a one-hitter in the first game as Taft scored six runs in the second inning and 14 in the third to coast to the shutout victory.
Sophomore Darius Smith homered and joined senior Tyee Fisher with four RBIs each to lead the way for the Tigers, who benefited from 11 walks and three Willamina errors.
Fisher had a team-leading three hits, while senior Cody Knott, juniors Trenton Fisher and Eli DeMello, Smith and fellow sophomore Fco Ramos scored three times each for Taft.
Five Willamina pitchers walked 18 batters in the second game and Tyee Fisher hit his second grand slam of the season and drove home seven runs, Knott five and DeMello and Kimbrough four apiece to make a winner of starter Trenton Fisher.
Knott and junior Lucas Hindman also saw time on the mound in relief for Taft.
The ninth-ranked Tigers collected 18 hits to drop the Bulldogs to 4-16, 0-11, including a team-high four by DeMello. DeMello scored six times, Trenton Fisher five and Smith four for Taft, which limited Willamina to three hits.
“We made some mistakes on the base paths that we need to clean up moving into next week’s games on the road,” Hilgers said. “We took advantage of some of their mistakes that led to some of our runs.”
Taft, which improved to 12-10 overall and 8-4 in league play, is at Catlin Gabel at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and concludes its regular season with a 3 p.m. doubleheader Friday at Clastkanie.
“We have to take what we did today and bring it to our game on Tuesday,” Hilgers said.”We need the same mindset Tuesday and confidence that we had today.”
GAME 1 Taft 22, Willamina 0 TAFT AB R H BI WILLAMINA AB R H BI Trenton Fisher 3 3 1 1 Austin Watkins 1 0 0 0 Eli DeMello 3 3 1 3 Kaleb Reid 2 0 0 0 Cody Knott 3 3 1 1 Nick Colton 2 0 0 0 Tyee Fisher 4 2 3 4 Nick Hawk 2 0 0 0 Bleiz Kimbrough 4 0 1 1 Wyatt Baker 1 0 0 0 Fco Ramos 2 3 2 2 Tucker Neville 1 0 1 0 Darius Smith 2 3 2 4 Drue Tuck 1 0 0 0 Lucas Hindman 2 1 0 0 CJ Toney 2 0 0 0 Kaden Hindman 3 2 0 1 Jackson Shoenbachler 2 0 0 0 Ethan Thomas 2 2 0 3 Austin Ash 1 0 0 0 Jordan Hall 1 0 0 0 Corey Greenlaw 1 0 0 0 TOTALS 29 22 11 20 TOTALS 16 0 1 0 TAFT 06(14) 02 -- 22 WILLAMINA 000 00 -- 0 LOB--TAFT 7, WILLAMINA 3. E--Nick Hawk (2), Jackson Shoenbachler. 2B--Fco Ramos, Cody Knott. HR--Darius Smith. HBP--Trenton Fisher, Darius Smith, Cody Knott. SACB--Fco Ramos. SB--Tyee Fisher. TAFT IP H R ER BB SO HR Bleiz Kimbrough (W) 3.00 1 0 0 1 3 0 Jordan Hall 2.00 0 0 0 1 3 0 WILLAMINA Kaleb Reid (L) 1.00 1 4 3 1 1 1 Austin Watkins 1.00 3 9 6 5 0 0 Dominik Briant 0.33 1 5 5 3 0 0 Nick Hawk 1.67 3 2 2 1 1 0 Drue Tuck 1.00 3 2 2 1 0 0 PB--Austin Ash (3). SO--Eli DeMello, Jordan Hall, Corey Greenlaw, Wyatt Baker, Austin Ash, Jackson Shoenbachler, Austin Watkins, Drue Tuck. BB--Tyee Fisher, Ethan Thomas, Bleiz Kimbrough, Fco Ramos (2), Eli DeMello (2), Kaden Hindman (2), Trenton Fisher, Cody Knott, Wyatt Baker, Austin Watkins.Game 2 Taft 30, Willamina 4 TAFT AB R H BI WILLAMINA AB R H BI Trenton Fisher 2 5 1 2 Kaleb Reid 2 0 1 1 Trenton Hall 1 0 1 1 Austin Watkins 3 0 0 0 Eli DeMello 5 6 4 4 Nick Colton 2 0 0 0 Cody Knott 6 3 3 5 Nick Hawk 2 1 0 0 Tyee Fisher 3 3 2 7 Tucker Neville 1 1 0 0 Bleiz Kimbrough 5 1 3 4 Drue Tuck 0 0 0 0 Fco Ramos 3 2 0 1 Wyatt Baker 2 1 1 0 Darius Smith 4 4 2 2 Dominik Briant 2 0 0 0 Kaden Hindman 1 2 0 0 CJ Toney 2 1 1 1 Jordan Hall 1 2 0 0 Austin Ash 1 0 0 0 Ethan Thomas 3 2 0 1 Lucas Hindman 2 1 2 2 TOTALS 36 31 18 29 TOTALS 17 4 3 2 TAFT 146 (10)90 -- 30 WILLAMINA 040 00 -- 4 LOB--TAFT 10, WILLAMINA 3. E--Trenton Fisher, Jordan Hall, Kaleb Reid (3). 2B--Tyee Fisher, Lucas Hindman, Cody Knott. 3B--Darius Smith, Cody Knott. HR--Tyee Fisher. HBP--Bleiz Kimbrough, Kaden Hindman, Austin Ash. SB--Bleize Kimbrough (2), Trenton Fisher, Nick Hawk. TAFT IP H R ER BB SO HR Trenton Fisher (W) 2.00 2 4 0 3 1 0 Cody Knott 2.00 0 0 0 0 1 0 Lucas Hindman 1.00 1 0 0 1 1 0 WILLAMINA Nick Colton (L) 2.00 6 7 4 3 1 0 Kaleb Reid 1.00 1 6 5 7 1 0 Drue Tuck 1.00 5 9 9 4 1 1 Wyatt Baker 0.67 5 9 6 4 1 0 Dominik Briant 0.33 1 0 0 0 0 0 PB--Austin Ash (3). SO--Tyee Fisher, Jordan Hall, Darius Smith, Cody Knott, Austin Ash, Austin Watkins, CJ Toney. BB--Tyee Fisher (3), Ethan Thomas, Fco Ramos (3), Eli DeMello (2), Kaden Hindman, Trenton Fisher (4), Jordan Hall (2), Darius Smith (2), Kaleb Reid, Nick Colton, Nick Hawk, Tucker Neville.
