SPRINGFIELD, ORE. — It was a sunny afternoon for Oregon as January baseball at Bushnell headed into Saturday’s doubleheader against Simpson during opening weekend for the Beacons. The Beacons and Red Hawks played a doubleheader on Friday, with a high-scoring first game that the Red Hawks took 16-14 after getting 12 runs in the first three innings. The Beacons took the victory in the second game, 7-6, tying the series 1-1 and then winning the series on Saturday, 3-1.
Game 1
The Beacons started off with right-handed pitcher Jacob Courtney and got a strike to start off the game with a groundout at first. Courtney then got two strikeouts to close out the top of the first, recovering from a three-ball count and getting three strikes in a row.
With designated hitter Nate Stevens batting second for the Beacons, he got a double off the back fence and later stole third. Albert Jennings and Mason Millar got walked with Millar getting hit by a pitch to lead to the bases being full.
Chase Nye and Josh Miyazawa both hit singles to get three runs in for the Beacons to end the first inning leading by three.
Bushnell got a one-two-three inning quickly to end the top of the second inning, but the Red Hawks quickly retaliated by retiring the side in order themselves, ending the second inning with the Beacons still leading.
Andrew Sherrell got struck out swinging, but then ran to first on a passed ball and scored the first run for the Red Hawks in the third inning as Malachi Fuller reached first on an error by Courtney. Mario Catalan got an RBI as JJ Torrente scored another run for the Red Hawks, and the third inning ended with the Beacons still leading 3-2.
The first batter of the fourth inning, Owen Hayes, reached first after another error by Bushnell, but the Beacons quickly tightened up and ended the top of the fourth with no runs.
The bottom of the fourth was the best inning for the Beacons as they scored six runs with a triple from Caleb Richter and Stevens getting a two-run home run, leading the game 9-2. It was Courtney’s last inning pitching after getting six strikeouts, and only two runs scored on him.
“I thought Court was really competitive. I mean, he has really good stuff,” head coach Jamie Womack said. “Obviously, in the early years, we can’t let them go too deep in a game yet, but I think it’s pretty clear he’s going to be competitive.”
With the Red Hawks attempting to even the score, Tyler Haruta got on base due to an error at third, which was Bushnell's third error of the game. This caused Haruta and Aden Munoz to get two runs in for the Red Hawks as the inning ended 9-4 with the Beacons still leading.
Fuller hit a single for the Red Hawks, but was then caught stealing at second as the top of the seventh ended quickly after, with neither team scoring any runs.
Max Richard smacked a double down the foul line in the bottom of the eighth, and pinch-runner Takuma got a run in after a misthrow to home as the Red Hawks put in their third pitcher, Cesar Guzman. He surrendered a three-run home run to Chase Nye, with the Beacons getting four more runs in to end the eighth with a 13-4 lead. Bushnell took game one of the doubleheader after the Red Hawks did not score any runs in the top of the ninth.
Game 2
Left-handed pitcher Kai Keamo started for the Beacons in Game 2 and struck out Jackson Berry to start things off. Cayden Lee then singled down the right-field line, and while trying to make it a double, got caught in a rundown between first and second to end the top of the first inning.
In the bottom of the first, Millar hit to center field, and Berry just missed the ball as Millar reached first. With two outs and bases loaded, Miyazawa put the ball in play, but it was caught by Sherrell, ending the first inning with no runs on the board for either team.
At the bottom of the second, Nigel Fahland bunted towards third base and got out, but advanced both Eli Pupo and Richter to second and third base. Albert Jennings singled through the left side, and both Pupo and Richter scored to put the first runs on the board for the game, with Bushnell up by two.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Red Hawks tied the game 2-2 with Owen Hayes and Aden Munoz scoring runs. The Beacons quickly retaliated as Pupo and Fahland got back-to-back doubles, leading to Richter and Pupo scoring two more, once again to lead by two.
After the Red Hawks swapped pitchers, Stevens got a two-run home run to increase the Beacons' lead, and caused another pitcher swap from Ruben Lujan to Nathan Palacioz with the fourth inning ending 6-2.
“Steve worked really hard in the weight room during the offseason,” Womack said. “I think he’s getting the confidence back, which I think he lost somewhere along the journey, so for him to finally be back is showing pretty evidently right now, and he’s gonna keep getting those bats.”
With the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the sixth, pitcher Dylan Ha was able to get a strikeout, and Jennings made two incredible fly ball catches with only one runner scoring to end the top of the sixth, holding the Red Hawks to just a single run.
The Beacons scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth as Simpson once again switched pitchers.
In the eighth inning, the Beacons struggled with pitching as they put two new pitchers on the mound for the game, and with bases loaded, Catalan got an RBI in order for Haruta to score, with the top of the eighth ending in 8-4. After a double from Millar, Fahlan scored a run, and a two-run homer from Nye resulted in Bushnell leading by seven.
The Beacons used 17 pitchers in the opening weekend series.
“I don’t think we necessarily planned to use that many pitchers this weekend, but I think it instilled a lot of confidence,” Womack said. “We got a couple of guys on the shelf that are gonna be healthy here soon, excited for that.”
The Beacons got the last out due to a close strikeout with three balls and three strikes at the top of the ninth in order to win the game 11-4 and the series 3-1. Bushnell will be heading on the road to The Master’s University in Santa Barbara, California, for a four-game series next weekend.