I was really looking forward to a low scoring game between North Eugene and Thurston Monday night.  I was happy to see two of the league's best pitchers, Andrew Moore and Kyle Watson, warming up when I showed up at the park.

My thinking was that Moore is one of the few MWL pitchers who can keep Thurston's big bats in check and keep the game to a 1-0 or 2-1 final score.  Well, it wasn't the Colt big bats or Moore's dominance that keynoted the game.

Thurston used some of their abundant speed to garner two infield hits to begin the game.  Add in a Highlander error and a really high hard one to the backstop by Moore and the Colts had a 3-0 lead without breaking out the bats.  I started thinking what probably everyone was thinking.... North getting four runs off of Watson is very unlikely.  Indeed, North wasn't knocking Watson around.  The Highlanders really had only one chance to close the gap on Thurston, but Watson induced a ground ball double play with a man on third to end the inning.

Thurston took advantage of more North miscues in the fifth to break the game open.  Thurston never hit Moore hard, but with the Colts up 5-0 in the top of the fifth, it was time to save Moore for another day.  Thurston scored two more before the end of the fifth to take a commanding 7-0 lead.  Thurston started hitting the ball harder off of relievers Kevin Haase and Jordan Barrett.  But as often happens, crisp well hit balls are easy to play when hit right at the fielders

So now I've seen three MWL teams in this rain soaked spring.  Marist, Thurston and North.

Thurston thoughts.....

The Colts have been scoring a lot of runs, but I didn't think they'd be bashing the ball off of Moore - and they didn't.  However, they did put the ball in play and good things  happen when you're hitting the ball.

Lot's of familiar last names in this line up.

Start with some speed at the top of the order in Aaron Hoover and Joey Urness.  Cover those two for base stealing with left handed Watty batting third.  Clean up the bases with catcher Jarren Goddard.  Stefan Drake was 2-4 on the day.  Familiar names all.  Kyler Ridge, who had a good day in the infield, had two good at bats in the latter half of the game.  And coach Dube must think pinch runner Tyler Van Damme has wheels.  Van Damme worked his way around the bases in the fifth, eventually scoring on a sac fly.  Aaron Clift didn't play and word is he is waiting for some MRI results.  Clift is a big piece of the Colts.  The Colts will still do very well in the 9 team Faux MWL without him if he can't continue, but the road to Keizer gets much tougher without him.  Let's hope he can play.

Defensively, with Watty on the mound and Goddard behind the plate,  the Colts have to feel great.  They performed as expected, but I was really impressed by the way the Thurston infielder's played the conditions (long, moist infield grass) and managed the base runners.  Kyler Ridge (#8) and Hunter Combs (#18) read the long grass perfectly and made several good plays on slow rollers/bouncers.  They also made good decisions on when not to force the double play.

Nothing spectacular in the outfield by either team.  But maybe there won't be spectacular outfield plays this year.  I don't think I've seen a ball go past about 280 feet.  I'm expecting the outfielders to start playing a lot of the batters at about 175 feet with these magic bats.

North Eugene thoughts...

North is trying to replace a lot of players off of last year's starting roster.  With seven games under their cleats prior to the Thurston game (and a 5-2 record), I thought they'd be a little tighter defensively than they showed Monday afternoon.  That said, the Highlanders will be in fine shape in the official MWL 5A league race.  I can't see the other 5A teams getting by Moore and Toby Woods, with the possible exceptions of Churchill when Jake Lessel is pitching for the Lancers and perhaps Willamette if Trent Waggoner is on.

It was hard to get a read on North's bats because they were facing Watson.  But after eight games, the Highlanders are averaging less than three runs per game.  I'm guessing Willamette and Churchill like the sound of that, as both teams  have two ten-plus run games already in this young season.

Defensively, the Highlanders had trouble with the long grass and the speed of the Colts.  But North probably had fewer  problems then most 5A teams would have had against Thurston. It's a compliment to the North program that they can lose several players who could have come back and yet still be at the top part of the 5A pack.

I think that North will get better and better on defense, and if they don't start hitting soon, coach Nicholsen will probably call one of his famous night batting practice sessions.

New bat thoughts.... 

Until I see the ball exploding off of some bats, I'm not playing as deep as last year in the infield or outfield.

Baseball Northwest Player Prospects

Everyone knows I'm pumped about this year's pitchers.  The March publication by Baseball Northwest reinforces my pumped-up-ness. Three top ten players (all pitchers in the class of 2013)

Super Class of 2012 (Entire Northwest)

# 34 Andrew Moore

Oregon Class of 2012

5 Andrew Moore
16 Jake Lessel
22 Joey Urness
26 Jarren Goddard
28 Toby Woods
29 Ryan Land
Watchlist
Aaron Hoover
Chase Kearney
Max Morrison

Oregon Class of 2013

2   Brett Nielsen
3   Joe Schindler
6   Cooper Stiles
16 Malik Evans
18 Austin Baird
19 Kyle Watson
25 Ryan Delaney
Watchlist
Scott Kuvaas
Gaje McDaniel
Doug Molzahn
Shane Quarterly
Dustin Smith
Wyatt Swick
Jordan Thompson

Oregon Class of 2014

6    Aaron Clift
17 Cameron Jack
21 Gauge Hallett
Watchlist
David Bellamy
Jimmy Grossman

Oregon 2015 Watchlist

Hank Forrest

This link will take you to Baseball Northwest.

Housekeeping...

• Just a reminder that you can help with the former MWL players in college and the pros.  Here's the link to the college list so far.   26 players so far.
• The only MWL player I think is still on a roster is Dan Straily with the Oakland organization.  Please let me know if you know of others.
• Link to my Twitter page so you can get the scores of the game I attend.  You can also text me with the score of the game you attend.  337-1311
• Link to my MWL Facebook page.
• If you would like to email me game recaps or line scores, pitching lines etc, please do at mwlnow@yahoo.com.  I usually get electronic recaps from South and Sheldon and a coaches recap from Willamette.  A good way to get some ink is to recap the game you attend:)