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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels May 20, 2004 Grizzlies seek to turn corner in playoffs By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland High baseball coach Jason Robustelli isn't trying to paint a bleak picture. Nor is he attempting to send a message. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland High Senior Jackson Rowe (left) rounds third base as he's being waved home by Grizzly head coach Jason Robustelli during a preseason game in March. The Grizzlies open the Class 4A state playoffs Friday at home against Dallas. For Ashland's second-year head coach it's all about the numbers. And in Robustelli's experience, those numbers point to one inalienable fact which his team must overcome in order to advance deep into the 2004 Class 4A state playoffs. "If you've got dead bats, you're not going very far," he said before Wednesday's practice at North Mountain Park. "You've got to score a lot of runs in the playoffs. That's the key." The Grizzlies hope to put that theory to the test starting at 4 p.m. Friday, when they open the 36-team state tournament with a first-round home game against the Dallas Dragons. Both teams enter the game with identical 14-11 records and both finished fourth in their conference. Runs have been hard to come by for the Grizzlies. Ashland scored 46 in its first five games of the regular season, but has scored just 22 in its last 10 games. The Grizzlies haven't surpassed the five-run barrier since April 24 and are batting just .295 as a team. Ashland was able to overcome those numbers and still sneak into the playoffs thanks to some clutch pitching performances down the stretch by seniors Chad Hegdahl, Micah Weston and Brian Ross. Those performances marked the high points in a season of ups and downs. When the Grizzlies have been good, they've been very good. When they've been bad, well... What started as a phase has turned into a full-fledged regular season: o On April 3, the Grizzlies beat Klamath Union 4-1 in the first game of a doubleheader, then drop the nightcap 8-6 for their first loss of the season. The win-loss Saturday becomes a trend, as Ashland goes on to win five of seven Game 1 contests and lose five of seven nightcaps. o On April 17, Ashland swept Roseburg on the road to stop a slide that included four losses in five games. The impressive back-to-back performances ignite a four-game winning streak that puts the Grizzlies right back into the race for the Southern Oregon Conference championship. o Just when things start to look up again, Ashland suffered a devastating loss on April 24 to the worst team in the SOC, Eagle Point. o Looking to shake things up, Robustelli reversed his pitching order and throws Weston in the first game of a May 1 doubleheader against hot-hitting South Medford. The strategy looked like a stroke of genius after the Grizzlies stun South in the opener, but Hegdahl is roughed up in Game 2 and Ashland has to settle for another split. o The Grizzlies hit rock bottom on May 8, when North Medford swept a doubleheader in Ashland to drop the Grizzlies into a three-way tie for the fourth and final playoff spot. Afterwards, a frustrated Robustelli says: "I don't have any idea any more what goes on. I used to know about our team and see something happen and quickly remedy the situation, but with this team it's like you're teetering on the edge of explosion every single minute." o With the season on the line last Saturday, Hegdahl delivered one of his best pitching performances of the year to lead Ashland past Grants Pass, 3-0. Ashland suffered a major letdown in Game 2, losing 10-0 in five innings, but is awarded the last playoff spot when Roseburg lost to Eagle Point. All told, the Grizzlies' regular season included two winning streaks of four games or more and two losing streaks of three games or more. Through it all, the Grizzlies have maintained their confidence, despite a hitting slump that has infected the entire team. "We've hit some rough times," said Grizzly designated hitter John Goldberg, who's second on the team in both RBIs (16) and batting average (.377). "We keep hitting the ball to the wrong spots and people are there to catch it. It's bad luck right now, but I think with the little adjustments that our coaches made, we might turn it around. Things might be looking up for us now." Grizz senior shortstop Steve Jorgensen agreed. "We've just gotta get back in that mentality of scoring runs and hitting the ball a whole lot, and I think we're ready to do it," he said. "It's time for us to open up and start swinging the bats again." Clearly, Ashland's offensive production, or lack thereof, has become a point of emphasis for the Grizzly coaching staff. While Ashland's pitching and defense have shown improvement over time, the Grizzlies have only gotten worse at the plate. That trend spawned a shake-up in the batting order last week, along with some extra doses of batting practice. The new batting order, which features Arron Nelson (.321 batting average) in the leadoff spot, Hegdahl (.795 slugging percentage) third and Ross (.311 batting average) batting cleanup, has produced some early-inning success. Still, the bottom line has been the same, as Ashland has scored only five runs in three games since the switch. Robustelli says its a problem that must be fixed, or the Grizzlies will be getting ready for American Legion ball sooner than expected. "We've been averaging like two runs a game for the last eight games," he said. "Obviously, that'll do if we can hold someone off, but in the long run scoring two runs isn't going to do it in the playoffs. We're trying to get the swings back for these guys. They've been thinking a lot at the plate and it's tough to hit that way." Jorgensen thinks that's about to change. "The SOC's pretty good, but I think we just kind of went into a slump and I think we're getting out of it, and this game is going to be a big game for us," he said. If Ashland can't turn its batting around, the Grizzlies will continue to rely heavily on a pitching staff that's emerged as their saving grace. Besides Hegdahl (6-3, 2.07 ERA), who will probably be named a first-team all-SOC pitcher for the third straight year, the Grizzlies have gotten outstanding performances out of Weston, sophomore Aaron San Nicholas and Ross. Hegdahl will get the start Friday, while Weston (3-5, 3.41 ERA) will go vs. fourth-ranked Redmond should Ashland advance. The Grizzlies team ERA of 3.64 is solid considering that Ashland's error-prone defense has opened the door for opponents all season long. Ashland is in the same quarter of the bracket as Redmond, seventh-ranked Parkrose and sixth-ranked Westview. The quarterfinals will be played May 28, the semifinals June 1 and the championship game will be held at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer on June 5. "I think we can go somewhere if our bats come to life like they should, like they did earlier this year," Robustelli said. "As long as our offense is there, I think we can go as far as that goes. "We'll see what we got." 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