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46 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 5, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 3, 2005 Well-armed North twice blanks EP By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune Josh Suarez and Cole Rohrbough lent credibility to the notion that North Medford will be a tough baseball team to beat when they’re on top of their games. The left-handed pitchers were poised and in their respective grooves Saturday in leading the Black Tornado to a doubleheader sweep of Eagle Point, 8-0 and 4-0, in Southern Oregon Conference action. Suarez struck out 13 and allowed three hits through six innings in Game 1, while Rohrbough had 11 strikeouts and allowed only four hits in a complete-game performance in Game 2. "Those two guys are tough," said Eagle Point coach Tom Britton, who only twice had a runner advance to third base in the twin bill. "You can just see the experience and the composure those two kids have on the mound. It was real evident that they were just overpowering us." No EP base runner got past second in the opener, with Suarez facing a high of five batters in an inning — and that was due to an error and hit batsman. Right-hander Trevor McCleery came on in the seventh to nail down Game 1, posting two strikeouts with one hit. Advertisement Rohrbough was extended to five batters once and six in another after the Eagles (4-4, 1-2 SOC) got tagged with a third out, only to have it overturned on appeal. "We couldn’t get anything going," said Britton. "Every time we’d start to even smell a rally or something, they’d squash it with good pitches. They just overpowered us." Rohrbough’s performance was especially meaningful since he was coming off a rough outing last Wednesday in which Roseburg tagged him for three solo home runs and four runs overall in three innings. "When I got hit up by Roseburg," said the senior, "it just made me want to come back and beat these guys even more so today. It was important for me to be able to bounce back." The same could be said for the entire lineup for North Medford (7-1, 2-1 SOC). The Black Tornado struck out 16 times in Wednesday’s 11-7 loss to Roseburg but had only two strikeouts in twice as many at-bats Saturday. Logan Odom was 4-for-5 with three RBIs, Suarez 4-for-7 and Abe Eubank 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBIs to pace the Tornado. "We made some adjustments and did a good job of putting the ball in play today," said North coach Brett Wolfe. The Tornado took control of the opener in the second inning when Suarez’s fly ball to right fielder Kyle Snyder was dropped and pinch-runner Mike Longmire scored one out later on Odom’s RBI double. Matt Schmelzer and Darren Bruhns followed with RBIs to give North a 3-0 lead. Two of EP’s eight errors in the twin bill allowed Kyle Williamson to make it 4-0 in the third. Eubank later added RBI singles in the fifth and sixth, while Odom plated a run in the fifth and Bruhns pulled off a perfect double steal with Williamson in the sixth to close out the opener. Neither team managed much offense in the nightcap until North broke through on an RBI double by Odom in the fourth. Eagle Point had its best chance at scoring in the fifth when Sam Birch and Nick Staller reached on infield errors. Rohrbough appeared to have gotten out of the jam when he fielded Matt Collier’s swinging bunt and threw him out at first on a play that looked as if Eubank was drawn away from the bag. Britton’s appeal to the umpires was granted moments later and the call was overturned. Rohrbough made it all moot moments later by striking out EP cleanup hitter Shasta Bateman. Inspired by the strikeout, North immediately retaliated with two insurance runs as Schmelzer tripled to center field and Bruhns traded places on another dropped ball in right field. Bruhns scored when catcher Derek Grieve’s pick-off attempt to third sailed into left field. North added another run in the sixth on a leadoff triple by Suarez and an RBI single by Zack James. FIRST GAME Eagle Point...............................000 000 0 — 0 4 5 North Medford.......................031 022 x — 8 10 1 Bateman and Grieve; Suarez, McCleery (7) and Bruhns. W — Suarez (3-0). L — Bateman (1-1). 2B — EP: Bateman; NM: Odom, Suarez. SECOND GAME Eagle Point...............................000 000 0 — 0 4 3 North Medford.........................000 121 x — 4 9 4 Staller and Grieve; Rohrbough and Bruhns. W — Rohrbough (3-1). L — Staller (3-1). 2B — NM: Odom. 3B — NM: Schmelzer, Suarez. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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