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46 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, April 14, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend March 27, 2004 North Medford�s Rob Folsom swings at pitch during Friday�s nonconference game against Southridge. Folsom went 0-for-4. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Folsom’s hitting streak ends North Medford all-stater goes 0-for-4 against Southridge, halting 42-game skein that began in 2002 By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune A bemused Rob Folsom shook his head. He had just done the unthinkable, going hitless for the first time in 43 games, as North Medford lost a nonconference baseball game to Southridge of Beaverton Friday at Miles Field, 5-2. "It’s kind of funny," said the all-state senior catcher, who normally collects hits like a Web site. "I go 5-for-5 the other day and don’t hit anything solid. Today, I go 0-for-4 and hit the ball solid three times. I guess I just have to start another streak." Neither Folsom nor his teammates were preoccupied with the streak, which began on April 21, 2002, in the second game of a doubleheader against Roseburg. Advertisement But it could not be ignored, either. Before Folsom led off the seventh inning in what likely would be his last trip to the plate, he received the kind of encouragement only teammates would give. "They knew about it," said Folsom. "They said, ‘Don’t choke.’" Folsom swung and nicked the first pitch, a fastball, for a strike, then launched a long fly to left-center field that Southridge’s Cameron Vickers hauled in on a loping gait. The drama was short-lived. "It’s really not that big of a deal," said Folsom. "It would have been kind of cool to go through the whole year with it, but if I can keep hitting the ball hard, things will even out." In the first inning, he popped up to the pitcher for his only weak at-bat. In the third, he grounded sharply to third base on a fielder’s choice, and in the fourth, he rocketed a shot that turned into a sacrifice fly to Vickers. "I hit it well and thought I hit the gap," said Folsom, "but they matched up well in how they positioned their center fielder." Folsom’s adventure only enhanced a preseason game of heightened intrigue and, ultimately, dubious firsts. Southridge (6-0) won the state championship two years ago, and more than half of its lineup is comprised of players from that team. Two of them, Darwin Barney and Rob Summers, have, like Folsom, signed to play at Oregon State. North (4-1) was ranked No. 1 in the state at the end of last season and, like Southridge, made it to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. So it wasn’t an everyday nonleaguer, even if a spate of errors and an absence of pitching aces took away some of the luster. "I’m very satisfied," said Southridge coach Don Fitzgerald. "We’ve heard about North Medford quite a bit. We knew they had a lot of success the last two weeks. We threw our second pitcher and our best defense out there." It was enough. In addition to its first loss and Folsom’s first hitless game in eons, the Tornado also: fell behind for the first time this season; went down in order in an inning for the first time; and had three innings in which it didn’t get a hit — something that happened only once before. Southridge junior Andy Eiden allowed five hits, struck out two and walked three. Folsom was just another batter to him. "I didn’t know about it," Eiden said of the hit streak. "I’m not familiar with their team." But he knew enough. "We’ve had four games where we pretty much just worked on fundamentals and stuff," he said of the team’s swing through Southern Oregon. "We’ve kind of been beating teams without really trying. But we knew we’d have to step it up today." Folsom didn’t find Eiden, who is No. 2 in the rotation to Summers, to be overpowering, but the Skyhawk right-hander hit the corners and mixed his pitches and speeds. "It was hard for us to get on him," said Folsom. Southridge took advantage of four Tornado errors, including two in the second inning when the Skyhawks went in front, 2-0. A dropped fly by North second baseman Jeff Adams allowed leadoff hitter Justin Shanks to reach first. He stole second and went to third on Folsom’s errant throw to second, then scored on Vickers’ triple. Vickers came in on an A.J. Michaud single. It was the first of three innings Southridge’s leadoff man reached because of an error. "When you do that against a team that’s fundamentally sound and can pitch and change speeds, it hurts," said Tornado coach Brett Wolfe. Southridge, getting help from an error at the outset, tallied twice more in the third to make it 4-0. The big blow was Justin Shanks’ home run to left. North closed to within 4-2 in the fourth. A couple of one-out errors and Matt Schmeltzer’s drag-bunt single loaded the bases. Adams’ infield single to third scored Brandon White, and Folsom’s sacrifice play brought in Kyle Williamson. An inning later, the Tornado had the makings of another rally, but with runners at second and third with one out, Charles Behnke was picked off third by Eiden. A ground out ended the inning. North was without two of its top pitchers, Cole Rohrbough and Josh Suarez, who were suspended this week for violating team rules. They’ll return next Friday. Brian Place pitched the first five innings for North before giving way to Folsom. Place gave up seven hits, had one strikeout and one walk in falling to 1-1. Adams was 2-for-3 for North. Southridge...............................022 000 1 — 5 9 3 North Medford.........................000 200 0 — 2 5 4 Eiden and Shoger; Place, Folsom (6) and Folsom, White (6). W — Eiden (1-0). L — Place (1-1). 2B — S: Shoger; NM: Behnke. 3B — S: Vickers. HR — S: Shanks. 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