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Royals� bats go silent in final state tourney loss HILLSBORO � The North Jackson Royals entered the American Legion A state tournament a confident team. With a .330 team batting average and a dominant pitcher in Nick Newmann, North Jackson coach Tom Britton thought he had the right combination to go far into the tournament. "We felt real confident coming up here," said Britton. But Saturday at Hare Field, Lebanon pinned a 3-1 loss on North Jackson, eliminating the Royals with their second defeat in two tournament games. After scoring three runs in the first three innings on Friday, the Royals were shut out for 13 straight innings, carrying over into Saturday�s game. Ryan Garrett ended the Royals� scoreless streak with a one-out, eighth-inning homer. "We scored one run in our last 15 innings," said a puzzled Britton. "I thought scoring runs would be the least of our worries. That�s a pretty long scoreless streak." North Jackson received a strong pitching performance from Jesse Stevenson against Lebanon. Stevenson had a no-hitter with eight strikeouts entering the sixth inning before Lebanon erupted for three runs. Brian Nelson�s two-run homer proved to be the winning hit. "The ball just wouldn�t drop for us," said Britton. "We hit the ball hard all day, and the team we played made some great plays defensively. It just wasn�t meant to be." On Friday, North Jackson squandered a 3-0 lead with Newmann on the mound in its tournament opener and suffered an 8-3 loss to Wilsonville. Newman entered the tournament with an 11-1 record and a 1.17 ERA. "There�s no question whatsoever Friday�s loss took a lot of wind out of our sails," said Britton. "I felt it had an impact on us. It was a game we thought we would win." North Jackson was eliminated after two straight defeats for the third year in a row. Lebanon ............................................000 003 000 � 3 6 0 North Jackson Royals ........................000 000 010 � 1 7 1 Nelson, McQuisan (8) and Utter; Stevenson, Strodthoff (6) and Garrett. W � Nelson. L � Stevenson (4-4). 2B � NJ: Kleker. HR � L: Nelson; NJ: Garrett. Babe Ruth MEDFORD 11, WYOMING 1 � The Dalles, Medford bounced back from an opening-game loss in the nine-team 14-year-old Pacific Northwest Regional tournament. Medford starting pitcher David Soria allowed three hits and one unearned run in the first three innings of the five-inning game and also contributed three hits and three RBIs. Allen Smith gave up one hit through the final two innings. Jacob Sarver added three hits, one RBI and two runs for Medford, while Andy Card, Corey O�Neill and Levi Frings provided two hits each. Medford, the south Oregon state champions, will try to stave off elimination at 4 p.m. today against either north Oregon or south Washington. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA