Document text
Tornado blows by Mazama in five innings Prep baseball With an experienced lineup, exceptional hitting and a vacuum-like defense among its strengths, the only question mark for the North Medford High baseball team this spring is pitching. Mike Beers helped ease the uncertainty Saturday at Miles Field. The junior right-hander held Mazama hitless through five innings in the Black Tornado's 10-0 victory. "Today was a good step in the right direction for Mike and for us," said North Medford coach Brett Wolfe, whose team evened its record at 1-1. "He's got a good, live fastball and he's developed a nice curveball to go with it. He had total command of the hitters today." Beers finished with 10 strikeouts and four walks. The game ended in the fifth inning by virtue of the 10-run rule. Jim Pickrel's two-run single finished off the Vikings. Shortstop Nate Mayben led the Tornado at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance with two runs scored. The win over Mazama came three days after a 12-11 loss to Phoenix in which the Tornado blew a 9-0 lead. "Our goal today was to play hard and then finish what we started," Wolfe said. Mazama ................000 00 -- 0 0 3 North Medford ...204 04 -- 10 10 0 Stone, Tyler (5) and Nelson. Beers and Brownell. W -- Beers (1-0). L -- Stone. 2B -- NM: Gonzales, Brownell, Pagnini. 3B -- NM: Halpin. SOUTH MEDFORD 5, MAZAMA 1 -- Sooner or later, Pete Whisler was going to run into his old ball club. It proved sooner as Whisler led South Medford against Mazama in just his second game with the Panthers at Miles Field. Whisler was Mazama's coach from 1994 through last spring. "It was a little different playing against your ex-kids," Whisler said. "But it didn't take me long to get over it." South Medford erased a 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the first inning when it parlayed one hit, a walk, an error, a hit batter and two passed balls into four runs. After the Panthers loaded the bases with none out, Mazama pitcher Jake Nelson struck out South's Tony Conklin and Graham Foster. But Ryan Bock followed with a three-run double down the left-field line that short-hopped the wall. Bock then took third and scored on passed balls. South added an insurance run in the fourth inning when courtesy runner Chris McQuillian scored on Chuck Shine's infield grounder. Mazama ............100 000 0 -- 1 3 2 South Medford ..400 100 x -- 5 4 1 Nelson, Barley (5) and Montseeocha; Foster, Empio (4), Lawe (6) and Shine. W -- Empio (1-0). L -- Nelson. 2B -- SM: Bock. RED BLUFF 11, EAGLE POINT 6 -- At Red Bluff, Calif., Red Bluff jumped on Eagle Point (2-2) early, scoring all 11 of its runs in the first two innings of the Red Bluff Tournament. Eagle Point .....030 210 0 -- 6 13 1 Red Bluff .......740 000 x -- 11 13 1 Whisenhunt, Stevenson (1) and Cardoza; McKim and Stower. W -- McKim. L -- Whisenhunt. 2B -- EP: Cardoza, Pogue, Newmann, Stevenson; RB: Bakerville, Martin, Davidson. 3B -- RB: Bakerville. MCNARY 6-4, ROSEBURG 4-6 --At Roseburg, Thys Kuitert went 3-for-3 at the plate and sophomore Mike McInerney pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief as Roseburg beat McNary in the second game of a non-league doubleheader. Stephen Copeland's two-run double highlighted a five-run fifth inning for McNary in the opening game as the Celtics rallied from a 4-0 deficit against Roseburg relief pitcher Richie Charles. Roseburg was in danger of being swept, trailing 4-3 heading into the fifth inning of the nightcap. But the Indians erupted for three runs in the bottom of the fifth on singles by Kuitert, Charles, Kevin Linderman and Barry Smith. FIRST GAME McNary .............000 050 1 -- 6 5 1 Roseburg ...........04 000 x -- 4 4 2 Manning, Copeland (6) and Gilmore. Kuitert, Charles (5) and Charles, Smith (5). W -- Manning. L -- Charles (0-1). 2B -- M: McNary. R: Charles. SECOND GAME McNary ..............000 310 0 -- 4 4 2 Roseburg ...........003 030 x -- 6 8 1 Gilmore, Purdy (5) and Nelson, Gilmore (5). Zumwalt, Black (4), McInerney (5) and Smith. W -- McInerney. KLAMATH UNION 15-9, HENLEY 7-16 -- At Klamath Falls, Klamath Union pounded out 11 hits and won the first game of a doubleheader despite committing six errors. Henley claimed the second game, racking up eight first inning runs, including a two-run bomb off the bat of Eric Weitlisbach. FIRST GAME Henley .....................106 00 -- 7 4 3 Klamath Union ..... 380 22 -- 15 11 6 (5 innings) Hamilton, Axel (2) and Bair; Woodrum, Kellstrom (4) and Mortenson. W -- Woodrum. L -- Hamilton. 2B -- KU: Monti; H: Pryor, Bair. SECOND GAME Henley ..............800 420 2 -- 16 14 2 Klamath Union .....251 010 0 -- 9 8 4 Cunningham and Pryor, Taccinni (4) and Bair; Kesling, Crismon (4) and Mortenson. W -- Taccini. L -- Kesling. 2B -- H: McDonalds, Frost, Thede, Axel; KU: Nork 2. HR -- H: Weitlisbach. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.