RBI’s Jackson Hull (45) eyes the ball in during a game played Friday evening at Winlock High School.
RBI’s Luke Roth (45)throws a pitch during a game played Friday evening at Winlock High School.
RBI bump fists before the start of an inning during a game played Saturday afternoon at Winlock High School.
RBI’s Jackson Hull (45) puts the tag on a baserunner during a game played Friday evening at Winlock High School.
RBI’s Jack Boothe (40) looks to throw a runner out at first during a game played Saturday afternoon at Winlock High School.
RBI’s Jack Boothe (40) bumps fists with fellow Dirtbags during a game played Saturday afternoon at Winlock High School.
RBI’s Chase Staup (44) makes an out during a game played Saturday afternoon at Winlock High School.
RURAL: Rural Baseball Inc. Improves to 2-0 in the Tourney, Advances to Quarterfinals on Saturday
WINLOCK — For the second consecutive night, Rural Baseball Inc. needed some bottom-of-the-seventh magic to stay alive. And for the second-straight time, Jesse Towns and the Dirtbags delivered when needed.
Trailing Woodland 5-4 with two outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh and the game on the line, Towns cracked a two-run single up the middle that scored Jackson Hull and Luke Roth to put the Dirtbags up for good. Hull came in for relief next inning and shut Woodland down in four batters, culminating in a game-ending strikeout to give the Dirtbags a 6-5 victory at the Dave Orzel Haymaker Tournament Friday in Winlock.
The win moves the Dirtbags to 2-0 in the tournament and gives them the No. 1 seed in the Orange Division. They face the White Division’s No. 2 seed at 6 p.m., Saturday, in the quarterfinals.
Woodland coach John Fazzolari said he and his team are just happy they get to play ball this weekend, their first live games of the year. The high school team only practiced for two weeks this spring before the season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clark County is also still in phase two of the state’s four-phase reopening plan and has not been allowed to have live sporting events yet this summer.
“I drove home yesterday after having a game at 8 a.m. up here and I was on cloud nine,” Fazzolari said. “I was like, ‘We just played baseball this year.’ It was amazing the mood I was in. It changed my entire outlook and I was just positive and upbeat.”
Woodland falls to 1-1 in the tourney and will take the Orange Division’s No. 2 seed. It will face the Camo Division’s No. 1 seed at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, in the quarterfinals.
It was the second night in a row that Towns came up clutch for Rural Baseball in crunch time. Towns knocked in the game-tying run versus Black Hills Thursday night, which resulted in a 10-9 comeback victory.
“We had to reach back into the bag of magic tricks a little bit and it was Jesse Towns again,” Rural Baseball coach Jordan Nailon said. “Day after day, that dude is just a plug-and-play guy. It’s two days in a row he comes up with the clutch hit to win it for us.”
Towns, who finished the night 2-for-4 with two RBIs, earned his spot as the leadoff hitter over the last month with quality at-bats, Nailon said. He leads the team in hit-by-pitches.
Woodland got on the scoreboard first with a three-run third inning. Seth Minor’s sacrifice fly scored Tyler Young from third base to make it 1-0. Grant Fazzolari followed that up with a 2-run double on a catching error that scored Minor and Drew Hartel to give Woodland a 3-0 lead.
Rural Baseball answered back in the bottom of the third when Hull singled, stole second then scored on an overthrow to third on a steal attempt to bring the Dirtbags within two at 3-1. The Dirtbags tied it up in the fourth on Ben Woodrum’s RBI triple that smoked Woodland’s left fielder and scored Chase Staup. Mekhi Morlin’s RBI single scored Woodrum and tied it up at 3-3.
But Woodland came firing back, notching two more runs in the sixth with Ashton Madsen and Brady Burns each connecting on RBI singles to go up 5-3.
That brought Dirtbags starting pitcher Luke Roth out of the game. Roth finished with four earned runs, four hits, four strikeouts and five walks in 5 ⅔ innings. J.C. Workman entered in relief and tossed the 1 ⅓ innings of scoreless, no-hit, no-walk ball with two strikeouts.
Hull scored again on an overthrow in the sixth to cut the deficit to one at 5-4, while Workman fanned two straight batters in the seventh to give the Dirtbags one final chance at redemption.
It looked grim for the Dirtbags after a popout and groundout to start the inning, but a Roth walk and a Hull single put the game-tying run on second with two outs. Towns smashed a line drive up the middle to score both runners and help the Dirtbags retake the lead.
Woodland had one final chance in the top of the eighth. Hull entered in relief and knocked down two-straight batters after forcing a groundout and allowing a single to secure the victory for Rural Baseball.
“Finding a way to get it done,” Nailon said. “That’s what it’s been two days in a row; finding a way. It wasn’t necessarily Plan A, B or C, but you use all the tools available and you get there somehow.”
Nailon was impressed with his team’s hitting after facing three hard-throwing Woodland pitchers who kept coming in waves, it seemed like.
Woodrum finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs, a triple, a walk and a run. Hull went 2-for-2 with two runs and a walk. He also threw one inning while surrendering one hit and notching two strikeouts.Nailon said he and his team are feeling good heading into the quarterfinals Saturday night.
“You can’t ask for anything better in your tournament,” Nailon said. “These guys know they’re coming up against the end of their season. Some of these guys are coming up against the end of their career and I think it finally sunk in for them.”
