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Lakers top Saints' baseball team, ending 14-game winning streak
The Advocate
The Saints baseball team fell short Tuesday afternoon in a loss to the Southwestern Oregon Community College Lakers, ending a 14-game winning streak during a doubleheader in Coos Bay.
In the first game, starting pitcher Nick Opitz improved to a perfect 6-0 during an 8-2 victory. Opitz pitched nine innings and only threw 88 pitches (71 strikes and 17 balls), including six strikeouts, no walks and only one earned run.
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“That was his most efficient start,” said Head Coach Bryan Donohue on Opitz’s performance. “He’s not an overpowering pitcher but before you could know it, it was the ninth inning and he was shutting them down.”
Things went south for the Saints in game two when the team lost 5-2 and snapped their win streak.
Jay Newton suffered the loss on the mound after giving up four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs. Prior to that inning, the Saints were up 2-1.
Donohue said there was no pressure going into the game to carry on their win
streak and that they just didn’t perform when they needed it.
“We had been preparing all week,” he said. “We’re expected to win and they had nothing to lose. We didn’t respond and had no significant momentum throughout the game. We didn’t pitch well and we sure as heck didn’t hit well. It’s college baseball — anyone can win on any given day. It was a little wake-up call. It felt like we got punched in the face.”
On Saturday, the Saints swept the Chemeketa Community College Storm in a doubleheader for the second time this season.
In game one the Saints won in a close battle 3-2. Pitcher John Kiggins picked up the victory in relief of starter Dylan Jones. Kiggins improved to 2-0 on the mound with a team best 0.57 ERA including 25 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings pitched.
Freshman Nick Struck said he thinks the team can depend on any of their starting pitchers on given day and that the team doesn’t depend on one pitcher specifically.
“Our four starting pitchers could all be considered leaders with the way everyone is throwing. All of us could cause a lot of damage as we get prepared for NWAACCs,” he said.
In game two, the Saints looked like the same team as in weeks past: a powerhouse. The Saints posted an 8-3 victory on 10 hits, including three homeruns. Taylor Ard hit his NWAACCs leading sixth of the season and Dylan Jones and DJ Johnson also went deep in the winning effort.
Struck improved to 6-0 on the hill and pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts. Struck’s ERA is now 2.06 to lead all starting pitchers in the Saints rotation. Opposing batters are hitting .188 against Struck in 35 innings of work.
Struck said everyone on the team serves as a valuable weapon contributing toward the team’s success this season.
“We have a team that is so deep in so many positions,” he said. “It makes it easy to pull guys off the bench to fill in spots. Every single player has been contributing.
There are guys starting games everyday but then we have other guys coming in for them in the late innings, and they come up with big hits. It’s just an all-around solid team.”
The Saints host the Clackamas Community College Cougars Saturday in a doubleheader at Oslund Field at 1 p.m.
Donohue wants the team to refocus on this series after the loss to the Lakers and get prepared to win.
“We just need to focus more than anything,” he said. “It’s going to be a great doubleheader and I expect my team to play well and to win.”