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Comets not about to tail off Could have best baseball team in years By DON HUNT It's hard to imagine Brent Foster putting up bigger numbers this spring than he did a year ago when he batted .537 in leading the Crater High baseball team to a 24-4 record. It's hard to imagine until you realize that the 6-foot-3, 190-pound third baseman is a little bigger, a little faster and every bit as motivated to lead the Comets to their best season. Crater has posted 20-win seasons in each of the past four years and has established itself as one of the premier programs in the state. But the Comets haven't advanced past the state quarterfinals in that time and they've never won a state championship. "This team knows what it takes to win, and there's no reason we can't win the conference championship and go deep into the playoffs," says Foster, the reigning Southern Oregon Conference player of the year. "Anything less than that will be a big disappointment for our guys." The Comets, ranked No. 2 in the Class 4A state poll, have won their first eight games by a combined margin of 94-8 heading into Tuesday's opening Southern Oregon Conference doubleheader against Ashland. In Foster and left-handed pitcher Casey Campbell, the Comets boast two four-year starters and first-team all-conference performers. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Campbell went 6-1 with a 1.60 ERA in SOC play last year and yet was bothered by an inflamed rotator cuff all season. He's healthy now and appears destined to become one of the dominant pitchers in the state. "He got hurt weight-lifting and it took a lot of time to heal," Crater coach Chuck Dominiak says. "He couldn't pitch during practice last season -- only during games. "But Casey worked out hard during the fall and he's ready to go. He wants to have a good senior season." Foster was the Comets' other starting pitcher last season, earning second-team all-conference honors. But he may spend most of his time at third if right-hander K.J. Chubb continues to blow the ball past hitters. The 6-4, 170-pound Chubb has posted a 2-0 record in the preseason with 16 strikeouts and nine walks in 12 innings. His fastball was clocked at 85 mph in a game last week, making him the hardest thrower on the staff. "One of them will be a starter and the other will be our top reliever and a spot starter," Dominiak says of Foster and Chubb. "It's a luxury to have two kids with that kind of ability to go along with your No. 1 (Campbell), especially if you get a bunch of rainouts and the games get backed up." Other returning starters are honorable mention all-conference catcher Josh Hinojosa, honorable mention all-conference center fielder Kenny Strate and right fielder P.J. Pardee. If Dominiak has reason to worry, it's the fact that his middle infield is new. But junior Ryan Gipson has played smoothly at shortstop and senior Jeremiah Toews has been a pleasant surprise at second base in the preseason. Toews, whose starting status was shaky when practice began, has just one error in the Comets' eight games and is batting over .300. Dominiak believes this team could be the best he's had in his 17 seasons as the Crater coach. "We've got the two four-year starters (Foster and Campbell) and eight seniors who really want to go out on top," Dominiak says. "These kids have a lot of experience and a lot of confidence. They expect to win." While Crater is a unanimous pick to win the SOC -- according to the coaches poll -- the battle for second is less clear. North Medford gets the nod over South Medford. The Black Tornado returns some of the top hitters in the conference in first baseman Colby Gonzales, shortstop Nate Mayben, outfielder Phil Ouellette and third baseman/outfielder Charlie Jensen. North has a team batting average of .428 and is averaging 13.3 runs per game in compiling a 4-2-1 record in its first seven games. The question for the Tornado is, can a relatively inexperienced pitching staff hold up against quality opponents? Mayben will likely emerge as the No. 1 pitcher. He compiled a 4-1 record and a 4.08 ERA in SOC play last season, and he's a four-year varsity performer. Brent Kircher might be the Tornado's ace in the hole. The sophomore lefty fired a five-inning no-hitter against Marshfield in his varsity debut and came back with a two-hitter against Oregon City four days later. In his last outing, however, he gave up 11 hits and nine earned runs in four-plus innings against Bend. Junior right-hander Josh Bottjer and 6-foot-4 sophomore right-hander Mike Ryder are also in the mix. "Kircher has tremendous knowledge of the game and he has a lot of poise for a sophomore," North Medford coach Brett Wolfe says. "He doesn't throw hard, but he gets ahead of the hitters and knows how to pitch." The Tornado was 22-5 last season and was in the hunt to win the SOC until losing a season-ending doubleheader to Crater. It has made the playoffs four times in Wolfe's five seasons as coach. South Medford, meanwhile, might have the most pitching depth in the SOC, and with an air-tight defense to go with it, the Panthers can't be counted out of any game. Tony Conklin, Chris Empio, Josh Tompkins and Clint Roderick all return with pitching experience at the varsity level, and sophomore Matt Skundrick has put in his bid for starting status with a couple of strong outings this spring. "We're not afraid to put any of those five guys on the mound at any time," says South Medford coach Pete Whisler, who guided the Panthers to a 15-13 record a year ago and into the state playoffs. "Pitching and defense are our strengths." The Panthers are a veteran team with seven starters back: first baseman Tompkins, shortstop Brett Haag, second baseman Ryan Heil, third baseman Jimmie Maddox, catcher Chuck Shine and outfielders Conklin and David Thrapp. "This is not a team you can take lightly," Whisler says. Defending SOC champion Roseburg will be hard-pressed to repeat, but the Indians have enough horsepower to make the playoffs. Third-baseman Kevin Linderman returns as a three-year starter and shortstop Ole Sheldon and first baseman Matt Liston are back as regulars. The Indians also have a superb outfielder in Mitch Black and a budding star in sophomore second-baseman Kellen Walker. Pitching, however, is sketchy. Right-handers John Zumwalt, Mike McInerney and Nick Bowers are battling for the two starting spots. Eagle Point has one of the SOC's top players in pitcher/shortstop Nick Newmann and another capable thrower in Jesse Stevenson, who held Class 3A power Phoenix to five hits in an 11-1 victory on March 29. If the Eagles can crank up their offense, they might be a playoff team. The SOC's darkhorse is Grants Pass, which got off to a 5-0 start and features one of the SOC's top pitchers in Mike Sammmis, who fired a five-inning no-hitter against Marshfield earlier this week. Shortstop Gabe Barbee, third baseman Nathan Olson and sophomore center fielder Tyler York, who has emerged as the No. 2 pitcher behind Sammis, return as starters for the Cavemen. Klamath Union, once a state power under veteran coach Dave Steen, hasn't advanced to the playoffs since 1993. The Pelicans are stumbling again -- they won only two of their first nine games -- but Dylan Woodrum and Jason Kesling return as starting pitchers and Steen's teams typically knock off a team or two they shouldn't. Ashland, which went 0-14 in the SOC last season, has beaten Yreka, Calif., Roosevelt and Clackamas in the preseason and played Lake Oswego close before losing 3-1. Third-baseman Noah Hartzell, catcher Paddy McGuire and outfielders Tyson George, Nate Monosoff and Ian Swallow all return as starters, and the Grizzlies have a quality pitcher in junior right-hander Nick Ehlers. The fact that the Grizzlies knocked off Crater in a non-league game last season illustrates their potential. If their pitching holds up and they gather a little momentum, the Grizzlies could be dangerous. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA