In a season like the Bruin boys varsity baseball team has had, you learn how to win and you learn that wins can come in any form and mean the same thing at the end of a long season. Not all games end with a dramatic long walk off homer, some games are drudgery, and some, well they’re just plain ugly. So at the end of a 24-1 season with a 17 game win streak in a season that started in mid-March…a win is a win is a win, and it doesn’t matter now how you got them.
Well, the Bruins finished the regular season in just that manner. With a doubleheader against a tough team, a blow out 10-0 opener and a walk-off hit batsman in the bottom of the 10th being a perfect summation of such a season. Years from now when the records are in the books for teams to beat, every game will be portrayed as dramatic wins with booming home runs and yeoman-like hard work…and deservedly so.
Bruin head Coach Keith Wallin had the unenviable task of keeping a group of young men focused enough to finish a long season strong when the final games didn’t mean a championship but more importantly, postseason placement as well as their placement in Bruin sports lore.
In the first game, the Bruins put Adam Shew on the bump and he took the big pressure situation and calmly threw BB’s in a 4 hit shut-out, striking out nine and walking one in 5 innings of shut down baseball.
The Bruin offense attacked the Sutherlin Bulldog pitching early and scored runs in 4 of 5 innings. Big Jon Kleespies went 3 for 3 from the plate helping the Bruins put up 10 runs off of 11 hits in the 10-0 shut-out.
In the late game of the double dip, the Sutherlin Bulldogs played the role of spoiler and came out determined to put their blemish on an undefeated Bruin season.
Andrew Burger started on the hill for the Bruins and held a determined Bulldog offense in check until Sutherlin scored a run in the 3rd inning. In the first 5 innings, the Bruin defense clearly lost focus committing 3 errors behind Burger, leading to 4 runs and a 4-2 Sutherlin lead going into the 5th inning.
The Bruin offense closed the 4-2 gap in the bottom of the 6th scoring one and then tied the game in the bottom of the 7th sending the last game of a 25 game season into extra innings.
Jason Vanginderen, who relieved Burger in the 5th, shut down the Bulldogs over 5 high-stress innings striking out 6 and setting up the bottom of a storybook 10th.
With the game tied 4 to 4 and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, senior Roman Worthey stood in the box with the daunting task of bringing home the winning run to cap an unbelievable season. A wild Bulldog pitch would hit Worthey sending Worthey to first and forcing in the winning Bruin run.
A win is a win is a win…and then there were none. No more regular season games to be played by this group of 2019 Bruin baseball players, it’s on to postseason to set new records.
The Bruins will have two tune-up games before postseason play. The first of these will be next Wednesday at Lost River against St. Mary’s of Medford at 4:30 pm and the second next Friday against Hidden Valley at 5:00 pm at home at Bruin field.
Congratulations and good luck to Coach Wallin, his staff and the entire 2019 Bruin boys varsity team.
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