T.O.R. baseball beats Eagles, loses to Vikings

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Apr 18, 20130

The Tekoa-Oakesdale-Rosalia baseball team picked up two wins and a haunting loss this week.

Playing at St. John-Endicott for a doubleheader on Saturday, the Spartans took two wins, 17-1 and 19-8.

“It was miserable to say the least,” said T.O.R. coach Kevin Young. “We had hail sideways for parts of the first game. And it was cold.”

For Spartan batters in the first win, Craig Nelson went 2 for 4 with a double while Jason Brown went 2 for 3 with another double and Ryan Maley was 2 for 5.

Micah Pittsley pitched all seven innings, striking out 13 batters while allowing just two hits and one walk.

In the second game, the sun made an appearance as Ryan Maley pitched five innings, allowing six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Matt Chittendon came in in the sixth inning and gave up one walk and no hits.

At the plate for the Spartans, Jason Brown went 3 for 4 while Brock Shelton went 2 for 4 with a double while Pittsley was 2 for 4 as well.

Every T.O.R. hitter had at least one RBI in the game.

At Rosalia on Tuesday night, the Spartans dropped to 6-7 overall on the season with a 10-inning, 14-12 loss to Gar-Pal.

T.O.R. delivered three home runs and 10 total runs in the first two innings to lead 10-4. Although, by the end of the seventh, Gar-Pal had tied the game 10-10. In the tenth inning, the Spartans gave up walks to load the bases and Jesse Lopez hit a grand slam to put Gar-Pal up 14-10.

Moving into the bottom of the 10th inning, T.O.R. scored two runs and loaded the bases with two outs but could not bring anyone else home.

T.O.R. had 18 hits in the game to Gar-Pal’s eight.

Spartan pitchers Dylan Garrison, Craig Nelson and Pittsley gave up 13 walks in the game while T.O.R. had six errors.

“Our fielding errors and walks really cost us,” said Young. “For three innings in a row we had the winning run on third base.”

T.O.R. will play next at home Tuesday, April 23, vs. Colton, followed by three league doubleheaders.

“Right now, the loss tonight really hurt,” said Young after the Gar-Pal game. “It’s a game we should’ve won. We had the opportunities and couldn’t cash in. We now have to learn from it and bounce back. We’ve got two important weeks coming up.”