Fight for First in Springfield and other thoughts

The Springfield and Thurston wins over baseball powers Churchill and North Eugene not only set up a much anticipated battle for first place between the Millers and Colts, the wins also opened the door for Marshfield and Willamette to work their way into the playoffs. More on the Eugene - Coos Bay schools later.

Springfield and Thurston
Hats off to both coaches. Erik Lansdon has taken the Millers from a struggling program to a highly competitive team. The Millers were 4-11 in 2008 and 3-12 in 2007. Phil Dube at Thurston has developed the entire Colt program - from JV's to Varsity - so that Thurston can graduate 10 all leaguers and still play the best ball in the MWL, so far.

The city of Springfield has two very different 5A teams. Springfield wins anyway they can - and anywhere. The Millers have played only one league game at Hamlin. They win the high scoring games, like the 11-8 and 12-10 first round games, or close ones like the 5-3 win over Churchill in the league opener.
Starting pitching duties have been spread out among junior Kameron Bates, frosh Malik Evans and senior Jordan VanEngers. Three starters with solid wins gets the opponents thinking a lot about which Miller they might see in the next game.
Blaine Dudley has been a nice surprise at the plate, leading the Millers in league RBI's. Alexjandro Camarena has shown some power and his speed kills. Bates hasn't jacked one in league yet, but who's throwing to him? He's still getting his share of RBI's.

Thurston has become the team to watch as they are playing the best D in the league, holding opponents to four or less in five of the Colt's six league games. Of course, it's the Millers who tagged Thurston for 11 runs at Thurston.
Dawson Phinney is 3-0 and if coach Dube throws him every other game, Phinney will get five more league starts. How's that for stepping up as a senior? Like Springfield, the Colts use a frosh in the starting rotation. Frosh Kyle Watson has been solid, with a sub 2.0 ERA. Junior Tyler Johnson also has had some memorable outings, especially the 5-3 win over North. Johnson came in in relief. He loaded the bases with no outs. Then he struck out three in a row. I guess he's a teaser.
Thurston's bats are alive. Tyler Johnson, Peanut Havens and Jarren Goddard have all been hitting with power and with men on. Jordan Loos leads the teams in league rbi's.
What I like about this team is the D. Solid pitching, out of sight infield and outfield play and speed to get to the wall or the short strokes. And catchers are oftentimes overlooked. Thurston has two great catchers in Peanut Havens and Jarren Goddard. Goddard makd two outstanding plays on bunts in the second round North Eugene game.
On O, the Colts lay down bunts like they are on autopilot, double steal, hit the long ball and tear up the bases with speed.

A true MWL fan wants tomorrow's game to go to Thurston. That would make them tied for the tiebreaker, potentially setting up a rubber match in the third round for all of the marbles. I'm assuming Dawson Phinney is throwing for Thurston. Phinney has been money so far. I'm thinking the Colls and Phinney will take this one to the bank and set up the possibility of a round three ballapalooza.

Churchill and North Eugene
They both need to win to stay two games out of the lead and pull to within one game of second.

Churchill's pitching has been inconsistent. They've won games, 3-2 and 1-0, but lost them 4-12 and 3-10. Their strike out to walk ratio isn't what we're used to. Hopefully for the Lancers, that will change for the second and third rounds.
The big surprise is that Churchill's bats haven't woken up yet. Brad Birch does have two dingers. I'm glad the opponents are throwing to him a little. Seemed like last year, I only saw him get walked. Alex Priaulx also has a homer. But overall, the Lancer's just haven't been the Lancers, but there's time left. They just better not wait too long.

North Eugene seems snakebit. The team is taking some hits in the injury department and they've lost three close ones; 3-5 and 3-4 (in 8) to Thurston, and 0-1 to Churchill. With recent injuries to Mills and up and coming soph Dillon Hudson, the Highlanders will be regrouping to find a way to make it to the playoffs for the 15th straight year.
After 10 run wins in their second and third league games, I thought the Highlanders had the swagger back, but they've only scored 7 runs total in the last three games. Garrett Harpole has two dingers and leads the team in league rbi's.
With Mills hurt, Andrew Moore, Kyle DeHaven and Chris Clayton are going to have to carry the pitching load. They can do it, but they need some runs behind them.

Willamette and Marshfield.
Willamette picked up their first league win Monday. The Wolverines are probably playing the most consistent D after Thurston. They've held opponents to five or less in five of six games. A lack of bats lost four of those games.
On the mound, seniors Jake Hughes and Logan Wright are looking for more run support. And a couple of sophs are getting a lot of innings, Trent Waggoner and Koleton Williams.
Taylor Woodke is leading the team in RBI's. Wright and Jordan Bowman have been blasting doubles.

Marshfield got out of the blocks with a 5-3 win, then gave up at least 10 runs in the next four games. The Pirates are looking much better at the plate than last year. They haven't been shut out this year, while at this time last year they had been goose egged twice already and were on their way to more.
Cody Dew has a homer for the Pirates. They are likely to sneak out another win or two this year. It's early and when Elliot Aurdahl is on, he can really frustrate the other team.

I'll be at the 'fight for first' game tomorrow. Then I think I'll check out my alma matre, Marshfield, Friday. Pirate coach Quintin Hall is doing a great job of building the program. There is huge improvement in the way the Pirates swing at the plate. It'll take a year or two to instill consistent hitting technique. In the meantime, it's fun to watch the improvement and anticipate what's coming in the future. I saw Springfield change for the better last year, and look at them so far this year.