Document text
Williams has breakthrough outing for Phoenix PHOENIX -- With a couple of solid starting pitchers already buoying the staff, it's been hard for Phoenix baseball coach Joe Hagler to find innings for Ben Williams. That may change after Tuesday's performance. Williams, a senior, blanked Rogue River on three hits in a 5-0 Skyline Conference baseball victory at Hagler-James Memorial Park. The three hits were all singles, and two of them were infield hits. "He threw very well," said Hagler. "He kept them off-balance, throwing his curveball and change-up over for strikes, and he spotted his fastball really well. He pitched smart." Williams struck out seven and didn't walk a batter. Hagler credits Williams' work ethic for his improved play this spring. "He got in the weight room and got a little stronger," said Hagler. "What helped him the most was getting a little more velocity on his fastball to make his off-speed stuff more effective. "I'm sure he earned himself some innings. You like to reward a kid like that." Travis Dunlap and Chase Tester are the Pirates' primary starters. Phoenix scored all of its runs in the first three innings, scratching and clawing for everything it could get against Jarrod Garwood. Garwood allowed only five hits. Andy Bartels was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs to lead Phoenix. Rogue River ...........000 000 0 -- 0 3 3 Phoenix ...................212 000 x -- 5 5 1. Garwood and Bowers; Williams and Loper. W -- Williams (1-1). L -- Garwood. 2B -- P: Williams, Bartels. MAZAMA 4, HIDDEN VALLEY 1 -- At Grants Pass, league-leading Mazama (11-1 Skyline) received a strong outing from left-hander Chris Stone in the Skyline Conference contest at the Grants Pass All-Sports Park. Stone struck out eight and didn't issue a walk. Hidden Valley's three errors led to three unearned runs for the Vikings. The Mustangs (10-6-1, 7-5 Skyline) got to Stone for their only run in the third inning when Trevor Schmidt opened with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Rob Adler's single. Mazama ........................100 120 0 -- 4 7 0 Hidden Valley ...............000 100 0 -- 1 5 3 Stone and Jay. Nelson; Hyde and Schmidt. W -- Stone. L -- Hyde (3-2). 2B -- M: Farley; HV: Schmidt. HENLEY 7, LAKEVIEW 4 -- At Klamath Falls, junior Brad Bailey sparked Henley with two hits and three RBIs. Nick Thede smacked a home run and Jeremy Axel drove in two runs for the Hornets. Lakeview ................000 400 0 -- 4 8 2 Henley ....................200 032 x -- 7 7 3 Benson and Dolbear; Montgomery, Boshuizen (5) and Bair. W -- Boshuizen. L -- Benson. 2B -- L: Benson, Furtado; H: Bailey. 3B -- H: Boshuizen. HR -- H: Thede. NORTH VALLEY 19, ILLINOIS VALLEY 3 -- At Merlin, Ariah Nead and Aaron Phelps each went 3-for-4 to lead North Valley's 17-hit attack. The Knights (10-6, 7-5 Skyline) combined seven hits with two walks and a hit batter to score 10 runs in the opening inning. Cory Pedersen provided a two-run single in the first and a two-run homer in the fourth for North Valley. Illinois Valley .......................002 10 -- 3 3 3 North Valley .......................(10)03 6x -- 19 17 1 Emery, McDowell (3), Larson (4) and Henry; DeWaard, Nead (5) and Pedersen. W -- DeWaard (1-0). L -- Emery. 2B -- NV: Godfrey. HR -- NV: Pedersen (2). Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA