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Foster, Campbell fuel Comets to sweep Photo by Jennifer Donahoe North Medford's Jason Brownell, center, tags out Crater's Steve Rice as Comets on-deck hitter, Ken Strate, looks on. The play was in the first game. Crater leapfrogs North on final day of SOC By DON HUNT CENTRAL POINT -- If anyone was going to re-ignite the Crater Comets, it was going to be their dynamic duo of Brent Foster and Casey Campbell. The junior standouts had carried the Comets to 19 victories in their first 20 games and a No. 1 ranking in the Class 4A state baseball poll. But two losses to Roseburg last week left the Comets in a tailspin. The talented tandem went on another tear Saturday as the Comets knocked North Medford out of first place in the Southern Oregon Conference with 10-3 and 13-2 victories. Foster belted three home runs, amassed seven RBIs, scored five runs and was the winning pitcher in Game 2. Campbell walloped a three-run homer in each game and was the winning pitcher in Game 1. Not to be outdone, second baseman Jason Korthals went on a power surge of his own with a triple, two doubles and five runs scored. When the dust settled at jam-packed Anhorn Field, North Medford (22-4, 11-3 SOC) had dropped into a second-place tie with Crater (23-3, 11-3 SOC) in the conference standings and -- by virtue of getting swept -- into third place for state seeding purposes. Roseburg (12-2) snuck off with the SOC title after sweeping Klamath Union Saturday. "I'm sure there were people who wrote us off after we lost twice to Roseburg last week," Crater coach Chuck Dominiak said. "But these kids didn't write themselves off. They've got a lot of pride and they wanted to regain some momentum heading into the playoffs." Crater will host a first-round playoff game on May 25 against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. North Medford, which went into Saturday's twin bill ranked No. 3 in the state, must now travel to Midwest League champion North Eugene for its first-round playoff tilt. "They hit the ball on the nose and we never got untracked," North Medford coach Brett Wolfe said. "It was Crater's day, but don't count us out in the playoffs." Korthals and Foster got the Comets untracked in the opener when the former tripled and the latter belted a two-out, two-run homer to center that gave the Comets a 2-1 lead. "We were trying to pitch around Foster in that situation and he still jacked the ball over the fence," Wolfe said. "The ball he hit was eight inches off the plate. He's a great hitter, and we knew that, but we couldn't stop him." One inning later, the Comets exploded for seven runs on five hits including a two-run double by Korthals and a three-run homer by Campbell. Campbell's clout came after North Medford had intentionally walked Foster. "We were pumped up to play today," Foster said. "We've been looking forward to this doubleheader all season. We knew we probably couldn't win the conference even with a sweep, but it feels great to beat a good team like North to end the (regular) season. "Now we're ready for the playoffs." Foster and Campbell were teammates with many of North Medford's players last summer when they played for the American Legion Medford Mustangs. And that made Saturday's sweep all the more sweet. "I'm friends with a lot of those guys," Foster nodded, "but today we were in opposite dugouts." The seven-run fourth inning gave Crater a 9-1 lead and that was amble cushion for Campbell, the lanky lefty who held the powerful Tornado bats to seven hits and only one earned run. He struck out four and walked one. "This is the best my arm has felt in a month," said Campbell, who has been suffering from an inflamed rotator cuff that prompted a visit to an orthopedic surgeon. "I got some of my old velocity back today." North Medford had the upper hand in the early stages of Game 2 when Pagnini and Ken Halpin hit solo homers to give the Tornado a 2-0 lead after 2 innings. But Campbell hit a three-run shot in the bottom of the inning and Foster finished off the Tornado in the fifth when he slugged his final two homers, a two-run shot to right and a three-run blast to right-center that ended the game on the 10-run mercy rule. Foster also had a single and four walks on the day as he reached base all eight times he went to the plate. "Foster is one of the most focused hitters I've ever coached," Dominiak said. "He watches video of himself all the time and analyzes his swing. He knows what every body part is doing." FIRST GAME North Medford ........001 011 0 -- 3 6 0 Crater ...................002 710 x -- 10 9 3 Pagnini, Crandall (5) and Brownell; Campbell and Hinojosa. W -- Campbell. L -- Pagnini (7-1). 2B -- C: Korthals. 3B -- C: Korthals. HR -- C: Foster, Campbell. SECOND GAME North Medford ..........011 00 -- 2 4 3 Crater .....................004 09 -- 13 9 0 Mayben, Crandall (5) and Brownell; Foster and Hinojosa. W -- Foster. L -- Mayben (5-2). 2B -- C: Korthals. HR -- NM: Pagnini, Halpin; C: Campbell, Foster 2. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.