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‘Stangs net wild marathon win By Kris Henry Updated: Jul 25, 2022 11:46 PM A A Medford outlasts Hillsboro in 11 innings, earns automatic spot in state championship final Medford Mustangs manager Nate Mayben was prophetic in saying Sunday night that his team’s winners bracket contest Monday against the Hillsboro Barbers was going to be a battle. For how quick and efficient Medford’s second win of the American Legion AAA state tournament was that night, it was every bit as drawn out and nerve-wracking Monday night at Legion Field in Roseburg. It was also every bit as successful. In what turned into a back-and-forth prize fight with both unbeaten teams landing big punches, it was a little jab that did the job for the Mustangs as they rallied in the bottom of the 11th inning to prevail 7-6 over the Barbers. “That was just an excellent performance by the entire team all the way through,” said Mayben. “They persevered and stayed cool and stayed calm, I’m proud of them. They never got too up or too down, they acted like a really mature team for how young they are.” Hillsboro had broken a 5-all tie that had held up through three extra innings with a go-ahead run in the top of the 11th, but a smoked ground-rule double to center field by Tanner Douglas and RBI single by Aiden Horsley drew Medford even again. A wild pitch moved Horsley into scoring position at second base and the Barbers opted to intentionally walk Jeremiah Robbins in order to face Frankie Rutigliano, who was 0-for-4 at that point. Looking for a measure of redemption, Rutigliano dropped down a perfect bunt toward the left side that Hillsboro’s fifth relief pitcher pulled away from to let third baseman Dakota Chun make a play on. The moment of hesitation was just enough to throw off the rhythm of the hurried throw, which sailed wide of first base as Rutigliano raced to the bag. Horsley easily galloped to third base during the play but when he saw Hillsboro’s first baseman have to leave his feet to grab the wide throw, the North Medford product aggressively churned toward home plate and scored the winning run as the relay throw was low of the waiting catcher. “It was a perfect bunt by Frankie,” said Mayben, “and Aiden did a good job of being heads up and watching the throw and then making a play.” The win automatically advanced Medford (35-7) into Wednesday’s championship round as the lone unbeaten team remaining. The Mustangs can force a team to need two wins over the Southern Oregon squad on Wednesday in the double-elimination format with another win at 6 p.m. Tuesday against the Sherwood Lobos. In Monday’s earlier elimination games, Sherwood won 8-6 over the Salem Withnell Dodgers and Roseburg Dr. Stewart’s won 5-4 over the Emerald Challengers of Eugene/Springfield. The Barbers (32-9-1) and Roseburg will meet at 3 p.m. Tuesday in an elimination game. One night after Mustangs teammate Cody Borraggine was perfect on the mound through 16 batters, Cameron Sewell was just as effective early on Monday in recording the first 12 outs. The South Medford product wound up going 6 1/3 innings, striking out four with two walks and five hits allowed. Of the five runs against him, only three were earned. It was relief pitcher Beau Aldrich of St. Mary’s who wound up securing the pitching victory, allowing one run over 4 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and one walk. “Beau did great; Beau was on his game,” said Mayben. “Everything he was throwing he had control of and he was mixing it up really well. Really, Jeremiah Robbins did a phenomenal job behind the plate of calling the game. Working with Cam and working with Beau, he kept those kids off balance.” “I obviously wasn’t expecting an 11-inning game,” he added, “I was expecting maybe 30-40 pitches to clean up the seventh but Beau just extended it out and did a great job.” Barbers left-handed starter Nelson Keljo offered a formidable obstacle as the top-rated high school senior prospect in Oregon, but the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Oregon State commit also did not factor in the decision as Hillsboro opted to methodically use its pitchers to create options for Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. Four days after allowing four runs on six hits for the Corvallis Knights in West Coast League play against the Cowlitz Black Bears, Keljo was able to escape a first-inning jam when left fielder Joe Brauckmiller recorded a flyout and then threw a strike home for an inning-ending double play against a hopeful Borraggine. The Mustangs again applied pressure in the second inning against Keljo, with Jace Miller, Horsley and Robbins each reaching base to set up a bases-loaded situation. After a fielder’s choice groundout kept the scoreboard clean, Kaleb Long plated the game’s first run on another fielder’s choice to third base before Keljo was able to minimize the damage with a strikeout. Medford doubled its advantage with a run in the fourth inning, taking advantage of a pair of Hillsboro errors to see Miller come home. The fifth and sixth innings provided back-and-forth fireworks, with each team trading one run. In Medford’s half of the fifth, Sewell singled and advanced to second on a throwing error on the play. Tanner Douglas followed with an RBI single. In the sixth, Johnny King drew a two-out walk, moved to second on a single by Borraggine and pushed the Mustangs lead to 4-2 when he scored on a single by Sewell. Sewell quickly recorded the first out of the seventh but two singles allowed the Barbers to put runners on the corners. An ensuing liner that escaped Miller at third base brought home a run to cut Medford’s lead to 4-3 and brought an end to Sewell’s night on the mound. Aldrich’s night started with a grounder to the right side that got past Douglas at first base and allowed the tying run to score, and an ensuing sacrifice fly gave the Barbers their first lead of the game at 5-4 before Aldrich got out of the inning. Miller didn’t allow Hillsboro to get too comfy, however, as the South Medford standout launched a game-tying home run over the left field fence to open the bottom of the seventh and keep his team’s hopes alive. “They had all the momentum right there and to lead off the bottom of the seventh like that was huge,” said Mayben. “And that’s a hard park to hit the ball out of as it is.” Medford stranded a pair of runners in the eighth and ninth innings before finally breaking through with their backs to the wall again in the 11th. Miller and Horsley each finished 3-for-5 with two runs and one RBI, while Borraggine, Sewell and Douglas added two hits apiece. Hillsboro Barbers000011 30001—694 Medford Mustangs010111 10002—7132 Keljo, Hergert (4), Price (5), Harbaugh (6), Werner (8), Smith (11) and Murphy; Sewell, Aldrich (7) and Robbins. W — Aldrich. L — Smith. 2B — M: Douglas. 3B — H: Gustafson. HR — M: Miller. Have a local story idea? Reach sports editor Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry Andy Atkinson / Mail TribuneMedford Mustangs pitcher Beau Aldrich, shown in action last week, picked up the win in relief with a solid showing Monday.