After traveling 13 hours to get the win in Joseph Oregon, over the #9 OSAA ranked Eagles, the Bruin boys were rewarded with some home cooking and a valued home game in their second game of post-season play, hosting the North Valley Knights, coming off a huge upset win, knocking out the #1 OSAA ranked Douglas Trojans.
Bruin head coack Keith Wallin handed the ball to senior left hander, Ethan Orman, #22, for Friday afternoons first pitch, shutting down the side to start the game, before the Bruins offense would fail to score in bottom of the first to keep the game tied at 0-0.
Orman again would retire the Knights at the plate in the top of the second as North Valley struggled to catch up to Orman’s pitching early. But the Bruins would not be so forgiving in their half of the second, pushing two runs across the plate to take a 2-0 lead after two.
North Valley would not get on the board until the top of the fourth, getting a runner across the plate to tighten the score at 2-1 as the Bruin bats cooled off in the third and fourth, hanging onto a one run lead going into the fifth 2-1.
Orman continued to keep North Valley batters off balance in the fifth, and again Bruin bats made the Knights pay, as senior Camron Hendrix, #24, smashed his second home-run of his post-season, clearing the fence and the basepaths on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fifth, to extend the Bruins lead to 4-1 after five.
The Knights had no answer for Orman’s command around the plate, failing to score in the sixth allowing the Bruins to put the game away with a 5 run bottom of the sixth, to essentially put the game out of reach for North Valley with a 9-1 lead going into the final inning.
Orman finished a complete game shutting down the Knights one more time in the top of the seventh as the Bruin boys continued to keep the train rolling, advancing to the next round after soundly defeating a confident North Valley team, 9-1.
“The boys are rolling and it’s a fun ride to be on.” coach Wallin told the Compass after the game. “So proud of our team and our community, and Thank you so much to the huge crowd that showed up to support these boys on a great day!”
The win sends the Bruins on to the final four in the next round, traveling to Pleasant Hill, Oregon, to take on the 21-6, #4 OSAA ranked, Pleasant Hill Billies, Tuesday afternoon.
