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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels June 30, 2004 Pilots take South Medford to extra innings By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings MEDFORD - After a nightmarish start to his first American Legion A baseball season in Ashland, Pilots' coach Hank Munn is constantly on the lookout for positive signs. Tuesday he finally found a few, but he'll have to wait at least two more days to snag win No. 2. Ashland's Andrew del Carlo led the Pilots both on the mound and at bat in Game 1 of a twin bill event against South Medford on Tuesday afternoon though Ashland lost both games, falling to 1-10 overall and 1-9 in Area 4 play. Satsuki Doi | Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland stormed back from a 6-3 deficit to take South Medford into extra innings, only to lose the first game of a doubleheader at Miles Field. The Colts needed nine innings to win the opener, 9-8, then breezed past the Pilots in the nightcap, 8-2. The two losses dropped Ashland to 1-10 overall and 1-9 in Area 4 play. "The guys that were here the whole time, I'm really happy with how they competed," said Munn, who lost two players between games and one more later to a Babe Ruth contest. "They competed their butts off, considering there were only nine guys." The Pilots scored four runs in the sixth inning of Game 1 to turn a 6-3 deficit into a 7-6 lead. Andrew Del Carlo and Wes Dodds sparked the rally by starting the inning with back-to-back doubles. A two-out, two-run single by Gus Gaviglio, a single by Steve Jorgensen and a pair of sacrifice bunts by Aaron Decker and Tyson Synestaro also helped Ashland turn the tables on the home team. In the bottom of the inning Colts' leadoff hitter Ryan Odell singled and - following a sacrifice bunt and a Pilots' throwing error - came around to score the tying run. Neither team got on the board again until Dodds scored on Jorgensen's suicide squeeze in the ninth. South pitcher Marcus James got the next two batters out - one on strikes and the other on a pop up - to keep the Colts close. The mini shut-down proved crucial. South's first three batters in the bottom of the ninth came through with hits, including Rick Imhausen's single to left that scored the tying run. After a walk that loaded the bases, Mark Austad hit a line drive to center off Decker to easily score the winning run. Decker replaced Del Carlo on the mound with nobody out in the fifth and pitched the rest of the way. "I don't think we were supposed to do as good as we did in the first game," Ashland catcher Sam Littleton said. "They scored some runs at certain points and we stayed in it. � I think we need to start hitting better. Our hitting's a little weak. I know I wasn't pleased with the way I hit. A lot of us were just hitting ground balls. We're not really staying back and really ripping on the ball." Game 2 was equally competitive - for one-and-a-half innings, anyway. In the second, South used four hits, including a two-out, two-RBI single by Jared Adamson, to go up 5-1, then added two more runs on a double and two errors in the fourth. Later in the fourth, Pilots' starting pitcher Griff Sollinger helped keep Ashland close by escaping a two-on, two-out jam. Dodds, making his first appearance of the season, took over in the fifth. Pilots' outfielder Aaron San Nicholas singled in Martin Ferrero in the fifth, but the Colts added a run of their own in the bottom of the inning to help seal it. Jorgensen, San Nicholas, Gaviglio, Del Carlo and Decker each produced two hits in the opener, but no Pilot had more than one hit in Game 2. "We need to improve in our numbers - it's always hard to win with nine guys against a team with 18," said Dodds, who estimated he pitched for the first time in about three years. "I think, we've got to cut down on the errors and the walks and we'll be a lot better." The Pilots' next chance to do that is Thursday against Central Point. The Area 4 twin bill is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., at Anhorn Field. 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