Senior Cody Knott and junior Trenton Fisher had two hits and two RBIs each Tuesday and junior starter Eli DeMello went the distance as Taft High disposed of WIllamina 11-1 in a Special District 2 baseball game shortened to five innings by the 10-run mercy rule.
“We came out a little slow today,” Taft coach Matt Hilgers said. “We did what we needed to win, though. We threw strikes, made plays on defense, and made adjustments at the plate.”
DeMello struck out five and walked one in a game moved to Taft due to playing conditions at Willamina.
Freshman Kaden Hindman also had two hits and joined senior Tyee Fisher by scoring twice for Taft. Hindman and Knott both doubled.
“I was encouraged by the way in which we made some adjustments at the plate compared to our previous game,” Hilgers said. “We need to have this same mindset moving forward.”
The Bulldogs scored first, but Taft went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the second and erupted for nine runs in the fifth to build a 10-run lead and end the game.
The win improved the Tigers to 6-8 overall and 2-2 in league play, while Willamina fell to 4-9, 0-4.
Taft returns to action at 4:30 p.m. Friday with a home doubleheader against Catin Gabel.
“We have another long day of baseball Friday,” Hilgers said. “We have to approach that similar to today’s game. We are playing against ourselves and trying to play our game.”
Taft 11, Willamina 1 WILLIMINA AB R H BI TAFT AB R H BI Wyatt Baker 2 1 1 0 Darius Smith 3 0 1 0 Kaleb Reid 2 0 0 0 Trenton Fisher 3 1 2 2 Nick Colton 2 0 1 0 Eli DeMello 2 1 0 0 Austin Watkins 0 0 0 0 Cody Knott 3 2 2 2 Tucker Neville 2 0 0 0 Tyee Fisher 2 2 1 0 Nick Hawk 2 0 0 0 Bleiz Kimbrough 2 1 0 0 Dominik Briant 2 0 0 0 Fco Ramos 2 1 0 1 CJ Toney 2 0 0 0 Kaden Hindman 3 2 2 1 Austin Ash 2 0 0 0 Jordan Hall 3 1 1 1 TOTALS 16 1 2 0 TOTALS 23 11 9 7 WILLIMINA 100 00 -- 1 TAFT 020 09 -- 11 LOB--WILLIMINA 2, TAFT 2. E--Austin Watkins, Drue Tuck. 2B--Kaden Hindman, Cody Knott. SACB--Austin Watkins. SB--Tyee Fisher, Darius Smith. WILLIMINA IP H R ER BB SO HR Kaleb Reid (L) 1.67 2 2 1 0 1 0 Nick Colton 2.67 6 5 5 1 1 0 Drue Tuck 0.00 0 3 2 3 0 0 J 0.33 1 1 1 0 0 0 TAFT Eli DeMello (W) 5.00 2 1 0 1 5 0 PB--Austin Ash, Kaden Hindman. WP--Nick Colton (2), J (2). SO--Kaleb Reid, Nick Colton, Dominik Briant, Tucker Neville (2), Fco Ramos, Kaden Hindman. BB--Austin Watkins, Tyee Fisher, Bleiz Kimbrough, Fco Ramos, Eli DeMello.
