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June 4, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels May 25, 2004 Grizz run out of miracles By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings REDMOND - The Grizzlies saved their best for last again. But this time, the hole was just too deep. Ashland High Sophomore pitcher Aaron San Nicholas throws during a Class 4A playoff game Monday at Redmond. The Grizzlies fell 8-3 in the first-round playoff game, ending their season with a 15-12 record. Melissa Jansson | For the Tidings The Redmond High baseball team scored four runs in the second inning to break the game open en route to an 8-3 first-round playoff win over Ashland Monday at the Redmond High baseball field. The Grizzlies (15-12), three days removed from a spectacular comeback in the subtournament round, scored two runs with two outs in the seventh before Jackson Rowe's groundout to short ended their season. "Just a little too late," Ashland coach Jason Robustelli said. "We kept hitting the ball hard, just right at people, and they were hitting the ball in the holes, getting lucky." The win advances Redmond to the second round, where they will face the West Albany Bulldogs Wednesday, at West Albany. The Grizzlies scored one run on two hits in the top of the first and looked primed for a big day at the plate against Panthers' starter Matt Hilgers. It didn't happen. Mixing fastballs and curves, Hilgers held the Grizzlies scoreless on three hits and a walk over the next four innings before Doug Taylor took over in the sixth. Taylor gave up three hits and three walks in the last two innings, but Ashland failed to capitalize when if left two runners stranded in the sixth and two more in the seventh. "I didn't think he (threw) too hard," Rowe said of Hilgers. "He hit his spots though, he threw strikes and he got us to hit the ball to his players. � They put the ball where we weren't and we hit the ball to where they were so that's not a good combination." Redmond had no such trouble against Ashland starting pitcher Micah Weston (4-6), who gave up 11 hits, including five for extra bases, and eight earned runs in four innings of work. Robert Peebles got things started for the Panthers with a game-tying solo homer to leadoff the second. Griffin Webb added a three-run bomb in the third that gave the Panthers a 5-1 lead, and Mike Nordstrom drove home two more with a single off Grizz reliever Aaron San Nicholas in the fifth. John Goldberg singled home Arron Nelson with two outs in the first to give the Grizzlies a short-lived 1-0 lead. It was the Grizzlies' third solid hit off Hilgers in the first inning. Ashland didn't score again until Chad Hegdahl hit a two-RBI single in the seventh. "We seemed to do that a lot," Hegdahl said. "We get on top of them early in the first two innings, then we kind of shut down. We had guys on base, we just didn't drive them in." The Grizzlies had their chances. Ashland put a runner on base with one out or less in every inning but the seventh, but failed to capitalize in the middle five innings. Redmond's defense had a hand in that: o Nelson was gunned out at home after a perfect relay throw in the third. o The Panthers executed a 3-6-3 double play in the fourth to quash another possible Grizz rally. o Peebles made a diving stab at shortstop to rob Rocky Reeser of a hit and keep the Grizzlies scoreless in the sixth. Reeser was one of seven Grizzly seniors who played their final game at Ashland. The others were Nelson, Hegdahl, Weston, Rowe, Ben Dodds and Brian Ross. "I feel like we gave our best effort, but obviously they showed that they were the better team," Nelson said. "There's not much you can do when they hit the crap out of the ball." Hegdahl, who finished the season as Ashland's top hitter and pitcher, said the Grizzlies' 2004 campaign lived up to his expectations. "That's where I thought we would be," he said. "I wanted to finish the season above .500 � so we did that. We got to the playoffs, won a playoff game and got to the (first) round so it was a good year." Ashland 100 000 2 - 3 7 0 Redmond 014 120 x - 8 13 1 Weston, San Nicholas (5) and Ross; Hilgers, Taylor (6) and Clark. W - Hilgers. L - Weston. 2B - A: Nelson 2, Hegdahl; R: Taylor, Peebles, Webb. HR - R: Peebles, Webb. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams