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Healthy again, Empio lifts Mustangs to title SALEM � Chris Empio�s school season for the South Medford baseball team was cut short in April due to an injury. At the time, Empio was the Panthers� most dominating pitcher and he was forced to miss the majority of his senior season. Empio has since returned and, on Sunday, he pitched the Medford Mustangs American Legion team to a 4-3, championship game win over Salem Cooke�s Stationary at the Willamette Valley Classic. Empio, who improved to 2-0 this summer, gave up three runs on seven hits in the complete-game performance. "It�s nice to see him getting some innings," said first-year Mustangs coach Brent Watts. "Hopefully he can start getting his rhythm back." Empio was staked to a 1-0 lead after the first inning after Dan Bruce reached base on an error and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Bruce scored one batter later when Colby Gonzales slapped an RBI single. Salem evened things up in the second with a run but the Mustangs jumped ahead with two more runs in the third. Bruce once again started things off with a walk. Phil Ouellette singled and Travis Dunlap walked to load the bases for Charlie Jensen, who responded with a two-run single to give Medford a 3-1 lead. Salem answered with two runs of its own in the top of the sixth when Chad Boyd knocked home a run with a double. Chris Arnold then tied the game when he stole home off Empio. In the bottom half of the inning, Matt Skundrick got the Mustangs going with a walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andy Bartels and then to third on an Evan McArthur groundout. Bruce legged out an infield single to bring home Skundrick with the eventual winning run. Empio retired the final three batters he faced in order with a flyout, groundout and strikeout to give Medford a 4-1 record during the tournament. Dunlap was named to the All-Tournament team for his .533 batting average, three homers and four doubles. Teammates Empio, Chuck Shine, McArthur and Jensen also were named to the team. The Mustangs (15-8) return home to take on Fairfield, Calif., on Tuesday in a 6 p.m. doubleheader at Miles Field. Salem............................................010 002 0 � 3 7 1 Medford Mustangs.....................102 001 x � 4 6 1 Sleeman and Litler; Empio and Shine. W � Empio (2-0). L � Sleeman. 2B � S: Godfried, Boyd. 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