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Running down a dream By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings They beat No. 1-ranked state championship contender North Medford on the road. They were swept at home by the Southern Oregon Conference's last-place finisher, Eagle Point. Bryan Clevenger and the rest of the Ashland High baseball team will make its third straight OSAA Class 4A state playoff appearance Monday. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA They blew an 11-1 lead to Crater. They eventually came back to ground the Comets, 17-15, in 12 innings. They've had a five-game winning streak. They've had a five-game losing streak. They are the Ashland High Grizzlies - giant-slayers, fan-teasers, whimsical wisdom-whackers of the SOC. Oh yeah, they're also in the playoffs. The Grizzlies (13-12) will be making their third straight postseason appearance Monday, when they open the 36-team - slimmed to 32 following Friday's games - OSAA Class 4A state baseball tournament with a first-round contest at sixth-ranked North Eugene (21-5), the No. 2 team from the Midwestern League. A win will put Ashland in the second round for the second year in a row, while a loss will close the curtain on what has been a bumpy, unpredictable, but always entertaining rollercoaster ride of a season. The first pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 4:30 p.m. The Grizzlies admit their inconsistent tendencies - especially on defense and at the plate - have been a thorn in their side all year, and blame those tendencies mostly on lapses in concentration. But they also believe with unwavering confidence that they hold the ultimate playoff trump card: the ability to up-shift when it matters most. In other words, the Grizzlies say they have game, but only when they're game. "I think the main thing is focus," said junior pitcher Chad Hegdahl, the team's best hitter (.511 batting average) and pitcher (2.66 earned run average). "When we don't play defense, our mentality is, 'oh, we're going to make (errors),' so then we have to press and we can't hit. So, I think we need to work on our focus and our mentality." Senior outfielder Bryan Clevenger, the team's fourth-leading hitter (.364) and leading error-maker (13 errors), said the Grizzlies emotional makeup also plays an important role. "I think some people, myself included, we're still � not as consistent as sometimes we show we (can be) at the plate," he said, following a perfect example of his criticism, Tuesday's 13-1 home loss to North Medford. "I think we need to make sure that when things go south that we rely on each other and stay together as a team and rely on our unity instead of falling apart, which happened today." Tuesday's loss wasn't the first example of the Grizzlies "falling apart" and may not be the last, but just as often this season Ashland has shown it can raise its game to stratospheric, or state-ospheric, heights. In that May 10 win over North Medford, for example, the Grizzlies were nearly flawless, turning three double plays, executing a perfect squeeze bunt and getting an all-star performance out of Hegdahl. And most importantly, Ashland finished that game without an error, carefully sidestepping its perpetual pitfall (the Grizzlies finished the regular season with a whopping 65 errors). And there are other such examples. On May 6, the Grizzlies, losers of five straight coming in, hammered 28 hits, played error-free defense and received consecutive complete-game pitching efforts to sweep South Medford. On May 13, the Grizzlies parlayed another error-free game into a 1-0 win over Eagle Point. On April 9, the Grizzlies hammered seven extra-base hits, including two homers, en route to a 15-5, five-inning blowout of Grants Pass. While some may look at those results and see the random flailings of an inexperienced club - only three current Grizzlies played regularly last season - the Grizzlies themselves say a distinct pattern has developed: when backed into a corner, Ashland responds. "They're big-game players," said Grizz head coach Jason Robustelli. "That leads me to believe they're going to be ready to play against North Eugene. They're going to be up." Added third-leading hitter, senior Chris Presicci (.369 batting average): "On defense, we seem to step up to challenges when we need to, so I think we'll be all right." That might not be good enough against North Eugene. Led by fifth-year head coach Corey Nicholsen, the Highlanders enter the playoffs seemingly built for postseason success. They've got a big (6-2, 175) left-handed pitcher, senior Cody Newell, who's 11-0 on the season, sports a 2.33 ERA and has struck out 130, thanks mostly to a fastball Nicholsen estimates at 84 to 85 mph. They've got a reliever, Andrew Sakshwag (1.30 ERA), who's done a masterful job of cleaning up on the rare occasions that Newell has been taken out. And finally, they've got a formidable batting lineup that includes seniors Zach Bird (.463, 40 RBIs, 14 doubles), Ryan Smith (.402, 11 RBIs) and James Mannion (.366, 27 RBIs, 14 doubles). All of the above explains how, early in the season and again Wednesday, North Eugene became one of just two teams - Ashland being the other - to beat North Medford. Robustelli pointed out that fact when asked about the Highlanders, but quickly made it clear that he's not thinking too much about Ashland's first-round opponent. The Grizzlies need to come through at the plate big time, he says, regardless of who they play. "Hitting," Robustelli said flatly, when asked the key to his team's playoff success. "The biggest thing is if the bats show up. We need them to show up for as many games as we are in the playoffs. The day that they go quiet is the day that we go out, I would say. Lots of hits, lots and lots of hits, for sure." But, can they do that against playoff-caliber pitching? "We're capable of doing it, yeah," he nodded. "We're capable of putting up eight, 10 hits against any team, any pitcher, so it's just a matter of, are they going to do it, can they do it throughout the playoffs. We've been up and down, up and down, up and down, so �" So, they're banking on an "up" come Monday, then about every other day thereafter, which brings up another playoff dynamic - the air-tight schedule. Playing a game every other day will stretch just about every staff thin over the next two weeks - the championship game is June 7 - but poses a particularly nasty threat to teams like Ashland that don't have a deep bullpen. While the Grizzlies have received good and occasionally great starting pitching, they've also blown huge leads. Hegdahl, a lefty, will almost certainly get the start Monday and leads the team with 50 innings pitched, but who comes in next is anyone's guess. Junior Micah Weston is second on the team in both innings pitched (37 2/3) and ERA (3.68), while senior south paw James Page is third in both categories (28 ip, 5.01 ERA). Junior Brian Ross (25 ip, 5.32 ERA) and senior Elliot Stone (23 1/3 ip, 6.69 ERA) may also see some playoff action. In Hegdahl, the Grizzlies have a proven starter capable of shutting down just about any team in the state - like, say, North Medford. He has playoff experience to boot, and, though that experience wasn't a keeper (last season's second-round loss to Oregon City), it has seemed to provide a source of motivation. "I'm ready to go, I want to get out there � after last year," Hegdahl said, frowning. "I remember the intensity was so intense and I was really nervous going up there and being a sophomore, and this year I know how intense it's going to be and I know what it takes, and hopefully I can get the job done." If Hegdahl does come through, Ashland's playoff potential most likely rests, just as Robustelli predicted, on the Grizzlies' ability to execute offensively. In last season's devastating, 7-6 playoff loss to Oregon City, the Grizzlies failed to lay down several sacrifice bunts and it came back to haunt them. Minor details like that may again play a major role this time around. That experience behind him, Clevenger likes these Grizzlies' chances. "We're just going to play our same brand of ball," he said, sitting in his home dugout, perhaps for the last time. "We're going to be underdogs pretty much from here on out, and so I think we play a better role as an underdog. So, we're just going to go in, nothing to lose, play free and loose, and I think we'll not only play better, but look a lot better at the plate, too." But, most importantly, added Hegdahl, the sporadic Grizzlies will have to settle down, make the routine plays and believe. Then, and only then, will Ashland put together a magical playoff run. "Realistically, with our focus, I think we can go pretty far," Hegdahl said. "If we focus, and our mentality is we can hang with the big guys every day, I think we can go far." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. 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