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Hurricanes foil Mustangs Legion baseball SALEM -- With their backs to the wall, the North Valley Hurricanes of Salem didn't seem fazed at all Friday night as they surprised the Medford Mustangs 11-8 in an American Legion baseball playoff at Chemeketa Community College to send the series back to the Rogue Valley, tied 1-1. The deciding contest in the best-of-three series will be played at 5 p.m. tonight at Anhorn Field in Central Point. The winner advances to the state tournament in Eugene. After losing Game 1 of the AA series 15-9 at Anhorn Field on Thursday, North Valley (18-24) bounced back with 16 hits. "It is a tough loss for us, but we have been through this route before," Medford coach Sandee Kensinger said. "We had the opportunity to make the plays, but we didn't." Medford (49-11) outhit Salem 17-16, but stranded 12 runners in the game. The Mustangs also gave up four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Hurricanes took a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning. However, the Mustangs answered with seven of their own in the next two innings to take a 7-5 lead into the seventh. Medford went on to add another run in the seventh, but gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning allowing the Hurricanes to hang around. Salem took advantage of the opportunity scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and went on to hold Medford in the ninth to seal the victory. Jason Brownell was 4-for-5, while Nate Mayben was 4-for-6 for the Mustangs. The Mustangs will send pitching ace Tim Alvarez, who is 8-0, to the mound for today's matchup. "We need to take care of the baseball and take care of our opportunities, " Kensinger said. "We will be ready to go today." Medford Mustangs .............000 025 100 -- 8 17 3 North Valley Hurricanes ...110 120 24x -- 11 16 4 Pagnini, Conklin (8) and Brownell; Handen and Bedell. W -- Handen. L -- Conklin (8-2). 3B -- NV: Emanual. 2B -- M: Ouellette. NV: Cordistow. ROSEBURG 5, NORTH JACKSON 4 -- At Eagle Point, the North Jackson Royals came up on the short end of the stick Friday, losing the opening game of a best of three Area 4 A playoff series to Roseburg Pepsi. With the Royals holding a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth, Roseburg put runners on second and third with two outs. Corey Baird stepped to the plate and lined a single to right field scoring two runs to give Pepsi the lead. North Jackson threatened in the bottom half of the inning, but Ryan Garrett flied out with men on second and third to end the game. Scott Stockton gave the Royals the lead with a two-out double in the second, scoring two runs. North Jackson tacked one more in the inning and added their final run in the fifth on an RBI single by Jake Kleker. Stockton led the Royals with three hits in four at-bats while teammates Nick Newmann and Kleker each added two. The teams square off again at 7 p.m. today in Roseburg for Game 2. If necessary, Game 3 will be Sunday at Eagle Point. Roseburg ......................200 100 002 -- 5 7 1 North Jackson .............030 010 000 -- 4 10 5 Murphy and Baird; N. Newmann and Garrett. W -- Murphy. L -- N. Newmann (8-2). 2B -- NJ: Stockton, Kleker; R: Sheldon. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.