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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 13, 2005 South Medford�s Jared Adamson claws back to second base after sliding past the bag as Crater�s Josh Surgeon moves in for the potential tag play. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Panthers cruise by Crater By KEVIN GOFF Mail Tribune It took South Medford’s bats a couple of innings to warm up during Tuesday’s Southern Oregon Conference baseball game with Crater. In the meantime, the Panthers took advantage of several Comet miscues, then provided a pair of crushing blows to take an 11-3 decision at North Medford High. Crater committed four errors — all in the first three innings — and South’s Justin Meyer keyed a six-run third inning with a two-run double to help put the game away. The Panthers (10-2, 6-1 SOC) kept pace with North Medford, also 6-1 in conference after a 6-5 victory over Klamath Union, heading into their doubleheader showdown on Saturday. Both teams are tied for first in the SOC. South Medford used four pitchers to hold Crater to four hits. Advertisement Starter Nick Donato improved to 3-0 after giving up one hit and three runs in 31/3 innings. He was locked in a pitcher’s duel the first three innings against Crater starter Tony Davidson, who kept South Medford at bay until the decisive third inning. "That’s kind of what we’ve been doing," said Meyer of the Panthers’ sluggish start. "For some reason, we’re looking at good pitches go by. I think people finally got it through their mind to be more aggressive." With South already ahead 1-0, Eric Mobbs led off the third with a sharply hit single to left field. He moved to second on a wild pitch, then advanced to third when Ryan Odell’s routine grounder was thrown high to first for an error by shortstop Corey Staniforth. Dan Chancler singled home Mobbs on a smash to third, and Logan Boyd walked to load the bases. Sophomore Chris Thomas replaced Davidson, and his first offering to Meyer was ripped to the left-field wall to bring home two runs. Another Comet error led to a run and Marcus James capped the inning with a two-run single up the middle. "We did take advantage of some of their miscues," said Panther coach Steve Antich. "I thought Mobbs (No. 9 hitter) did a good job of starting the whole (rally). Him getting on in front of the big part of our order was huge." Donato limited Crater (5-7, 2-5 SOC) to one hit through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth. Working with a 7-0 lead, Donato struggled with his command after the lengthy bottom half of the third. He walked the bases loaded and was replaced by freshman Griffin Boyd. "Nick did a nice job early on," said Antich. "We had that long inning, but that’s baseball. You’ve got to be able to adjust and come out and throw strikes." Boyd looked like he might wiggle out of the jam when he fanned Staniforth for the second out of the inning. But Tyler Davis sat back on Boyd’s two-strike curveball and smoked a single to left to bring home two runs. One batter later, Charlie Reina laced a two-strike pitch for an RBI single before Boyd got Jeff Weiss to fly out to center to end the threat. Any Comet momentum was quickly squashed, however, when Logan Boyd belted a long, three-run home run to dead center in the bottom half of the frame. "That was big for us to answer immediately," said Antich. "That could have been the difference right there. "We’ve had a lot of close games this year, so it was nice to get a comfortable lead." Chancler, who finished 3-for-3 to up his average to .440 in the SOC, manufactured South’s first run in the opening inning. The senior singled and was attempting to steal second when catcher Reina’s throw sailed wide. Davis, Crater’s center fielder, retrieved the ball and tried to nail Chancler at third, but his throw went into the Panther dugout, allowing Chancler to come home. Meyer added another double in the sixth to score Logan Boyd, and Rick Imhausen came on in relief to close the door on the Comets in the seventh. Reina and Davis had two hits apiece to lead the Comets. Davidson fell to 1-4 despite throwing well until the third. "I thought those first two innings were the best that Tony’s thrown this year," said Crater coach Jim Powell. "After throwing on Saturday and coming back Tuesday, we may have gone too long with him." Crater, which returned just three starters from last season and has only three seniors on the team, has been bitten by the error bug a few times this season. "I liked our patience at the plate," said Powell, whose team drew six walks, "but, obviously, I didn’t like the errors. "I’ve said it before, but we have to play almost perfect baseball to stay in it with some of these teams. Right now we’re making too many errors." Crater........................................000 300 0 — 3 4 4 South Medford.......................106 301 x — 11 8 2 Davidson, Thomas (3), Weiss (5), Ogle (6) and Reina; Donato, G. Boyd (4), L. Boyd (6), Imhausen (7) and Koziol. W — Donato (3-0). L — Davidson (1-4). 2B — SM: Meyer 2. HR — SM: L. Boyd (2). Reach reporter Kevin Goff at 776-4483 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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