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Photo by Jim Craven South Medford's Brett Haag (11) successfully slides into second on a steal attempt as Corvallis' Dan Moody (5) misses the tag. Mayben does it all as North wins twice North Medford's Nate Mayben did a little bit of everything at the Asante Diamond Classic on Tuesday. As a result, the Black Tornado finds itself in the championship game of the six-team tournament. Mayben went 3-for-4 at the plate, knocked in five runs and stole a base as the Tornado romped past South Eugene 23-1. Later in the day he made a sensational play at shortstop and pitched 2 2/3 of hitless relief as North edged Barlow of Gresham, 5-3, in eight innings. The Tornado meets Corvallis for the championship at 4:30 p.m. today at Miles Field. Corvallis defeated South Medford 5-1 and Enterprise of Redding, Calif., 11-1 in its two games Tuesday. In other Asante Diamond Classic games Tuesday, Barlow beat Enterprise 5-4 and South Medford routed South Eugene 15-5. "Mayben had a great day -- to say the least," North Medford coach Brett Wolfe said of the multi-talented junior. "We're looking at him to be our closer and he really came through in that role today." Mayben also wowed the crowd when he backhanded a hard-hit ground ball deep in the hole and flipped to third-baseman Steve DeClerck for a forceout. Corvallis had runners on first and second with two outs in the second inning when Mayben made the acrobatic play. "He saved a couple of runs and kind of set the tone for us," Brett said. "It was a heck of a play and he made it look easy." Mayben later took the mound and shut out the Spartans over the final two innings. Jared Pagnini, the Tornado's regular second-baseman, moved over to shortstop and Dan Bruce came in to play second when Mayben pitched. "You don't really like breaking up your infield but Pagnini is proving he can play both spots very well," Wolfe said. "His footspeed has improved tremendously since last year." Trailing 3-2 after 6 1/2 innings, North Medford tied the game in the seventh when Jim Pickrel doubled and scored on an error. The Tornado then won the game in the eighth when a double by Browell, a single by Pagnini, an RBI groundout by Ken Halpin, a wild pitch and an error accounted for two runs. The victories boosted North Medford's season record to 3-1. Corvallis beat South Medford on the strength of Ryan Boyle's three-run homer and the one-hit pitching of Kane Tenpas. Boyle's blast to left field slammed into the gymnasium wall at South Medford High School. South Medford had better luck against South Eugene, putting the Axemen away in six innings due to the 10-run rule. Brett Haag and Tony Conklin each had a double for the Panthers. South Eugene ................. 010 00 -- 1 3 8 North Medford ................ 977 0x -- 23 16 1 Lacamp, Schnider (2), Wolf (3) and Laing. Pagnini and Brownell. W -- Pagnini (1-0). L -- Lacamp. 2B -- SE: Davidson; NM: Mayben 2, Brownell, Pagnini 2. 3B -- NM: Mayben. North Medford ................. 000 101 12 -- 5 6 1 Barlow ............................ 101 001 00 -- 3 6 2 Crandal, Mayben (6) and Brownell. Brian Burres and Armstrong. W -- Mayben (1-1). 2B -- NM: Brownell, Pickrel; B: Armstrong. Corvallis ........................... 002 030 0 -- 5 5 5 South Medford ................... 000 001 0 -- 1 1 1 Kane Tenpas and Kyle Jones. Graham Foster, James Lawe (7) and Shine. HR -- C: Ryan Boyle. South Medford ................. 600 406 -- 15 10 5 South Eugene .................. 000 212 -- 5 6 7 Empio, Lawe (6) and Shine; Schnider, Overstake (5) and Wolf. W -- Empio. L -- Schnider. 2B: Brett Haag, Tony Conklin. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.