Roseburg, Kelso lone unbeatens
Kelso and Roseburg prevailed in Northwest Regional American Legion baseball quarterfinal action Friday at Gonzaga University's Washington Trust Field.
Click the tab below to read my unedited story from the quarterfinal games.
By
gregl@spokesman.com, (509) 927-2180
It was just what the doctor ordered for the
The
All nine Docs had at least two hits, led by No. 9 hitter Derek Priestley, who had a home run and a double to go with three RBI.
“Coach (Scott) Shaver has really been working with me, staying back on baseballs, because I really try to be aggressive and hit the first pitch I see,” Priestley said. “Sometimes I get ahead of myself. It felt good to finally get a good swing on the ball.”
In a pitcher’s duel and the best-played game thus far in the
tourney,
Roseburg (30-13), seeking its first trip to the World Series since 1984, takes on Kelso (36-20) in the semifinal tonight at about 7:30.
“Vince has been swinging it well lately,” Priestley said. “There’s really not an easy out in our order.”
Priestley knows
“We’re all thinking about it but we need to take it one game at a time,” Priestley said.
Shaver was impressed with Priestley.
“He’s not a typical No. 9 guy,” Shaver said. “We don’t really have one. We have nine, 10, 11 guys who can hit and I put nine of them in the lineup and those are the guys you go with.”
The Docs had to be patient, though. Through four innings, they trailed 5-2.
The Docs started to pull away in the eighth.
Shaver said the Docs’ poise is something he’s grown accustom to.
“Teams are going to score runs and that’s fine but don’t let them get the big innings and we need to keep chipping away,” Shaver said. “We never look at the scoreboard. The scoreboard doesn’t matter until the ninth.”
Kelso 3,
Carl Johnson knocked in the first run on a double then
Kelso. Then a
Kelso pushed the lead to 3-1 in the eighth when Blake Giles perfectly executed a hit and run, singling sharply through the vacated shortstop hole to knock in Nolan Enriquez, who reached on a walk.
Giles relieved in the ninth to pick up his third save. Starter Dustin Hamilton (4-1) stymied