Mac baseball splits first two with Newberg
On Monday, the Grizzlies claimed a 4-0 victory thanks to six dominant innings from senior Braydon Mix. The left-hander struck out 11 and gave up four hits before handing the ball over to junior Tyler Brummit to close the game out. Mix threw 64.6% of his 92 pitches for strikes.
Mac head coach Todd Peterson said Mix was steadily integrating all three of his pitches — fastball, changeup and curveball — but seemed to lose the feel of the curve, which is deemed his best pitch. Peterson was impressed by Mix’s ability to adjust with other pitches while keeping command of the zone.
“That’s what great pitchers do,” Peterson said. “When one thing isn’t working, they still figure out a way to get hitters out and he did that yesterday and gave our team a great shot at winning.”
On offense, the Grizzlies were unable to take advantage of a wildly pitched game from the Newberg pitching staff. McMinnville tacked on two runs in the second inning and two more in the fifth, but overall the Grizzlies head coach admitted some frustrations with the offensive output.
The team drew eight walks against Newberg pitchers, but left 13 runners on base.
Regardless, Peterson was satisfied with the win and stays confident his ball club will recover and learn from what could have been a higher-scoring game. The main focus now is on the level of aggressiveness the hitters have against opposing pitchers.
“When we go up there we gotta be confident and expect to be the ones who are attacking the pitcher and not letting the pitcher attack (us),” he said. “A lot of it goes back to our approach and understanding what we’re trying to do in certain situations. We’ve seen it before with every guy in the lineup and I’m confident that when we get the opportunity to cash in more runs that we’ll do it.”
Juniors Cameron Hyder and Aaron Rolfe secured the only two Grizzly RBI of the game: Hyder via a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning and Rolfe via a hit-by-pitch the very next batter.
On Wednesday, the Tigers evened the series at home with an 8-7 walk-off victory. Newberg freshman Greysen Castaneda was the hero, singling to left field and driving in junior Liam Vaugh who was pinch-running for fellow junior Zadek Bowlby.
McMinnville led 7-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning following a five-run top half, but allowed six runs in the Tigers final round of at-bats.
A walk and hit-by-pitch set the table for the top of the Grizzly lineup in the seventh, where four consecutive base knocks put Newberg on its heels. Hyder began the barrage with an RBI single and senior infielder Bryce Wilson followed suit with a two-RBI double. Rolfe and senior second baseman Kane Sullivan provided RBI base hits to the barrage as well.
Wilson and Sullivan each finished the game with two RBI and two hits in four plate appearances. Meanwhile, Hyder went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Rolfe was 2-for-3 with an RBI and one run scored.
Hyder started for the Grizzlies, allowing only two runs through six innings pitched and striking out eight before consecutive doubles and a defensive error drove him from the game. Hyder’s final line saw him complete six innings and a third while allowing four earned runs on nine hits prior to leaving the game.
Senior Nash Optiz entered in relief of Hyder, but could not stop the Tigers’ six-run comeback.
Outside of Castaneda’s walk-off hit, Newberg’s junior third baseman Carter Hawes was an unstoppable force at the plate, going 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and two runs scored. A two-run double off Hawes’ bat welcomed Optiz to the game in the seventh and closed the deficit to 7-5 with one out in the inning.
Compounded with junior catcher Judah Campos and senior shortstop Cole Thomas, the Tiger’s one-two-three hitters combined to go 6-for-12 with 4 RBI and five runs scored.
The series rubber match plays out back in McMinnville on Friday. The first pitch is at 5 p.m. at Patton Middle School.
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