 | | Photo By Garrett Rudolph | | Woodburn senior Dennis Fox had his best pitching performance of the season on Tuesday, holding Crescent Valley to three runs in seven innings. The Bulldogs lost the game 3-0, but the outcome was far closer than any of their other league games over the past couple years. |
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By Garrett Rudolph
WOODBURN - The Woodburn baseball team hasn't had a lot of success in the past couple years, so Tuesday's 3-0 loss to Crescent Valley seemed like a step in the right direction, as the Bulldogs continue hunting their first Class 5A win.
Bulldog pitcher Dennis Fox threw a complete game, holding the Raiders to the lowest run-total for a Bulldog opponent since the creation of the Mid-Willamette Conference.
"The name of the game is pitching," said Woodburn coach Pete Porath. "If we can pitch well and field well, then we're in every game. (Fox) pitched a good game ... (the Raiders) were ahead of a couple pitches, they were behind a couple pitches, they didn't really seem to be on pitches, all that much. They got on him a little in the fourth inning, as far as hitting him. He was locating very well, but they'd get hits on two strike pitches."
Although Woodburn wasn't able to score any runs, Porath said the team had several chances with runners in scoring position, but couldn't come up with any clutch hits. He said the young Bulldogs squad is still in the process of understanding how to use pitch counts to their advantage.
"We put ourselves in two-strike situations too often," he said. "Several times we got good counts. When we would get ourselves where we'd be 3-0, 2-0, 3-1, it's a hitter's count, we were still watching ... That's the money ball. When you get that count, you can put the hurt on people."
However, one of the biggest factors that stuck out to him, in comparison to previous games, was the Bulldogs' defense.
"We played better (Tuesday) than we have all year," said Porath. "We played to our potential today, at least in the field. Every time the ball comes to us, we have to make the play, and today we did, we just couldn't score any runs.
"I think the weather helped a little bit, when the weather's a little cooler, the bats don't wake up much."
On Wednesday and Friday, Crescent Valley stepped up its play to win the final two games of the series, 17-1 and 13-2.
"Dallas and West Albany and Corvallis are the top teams, but beyond that, I was looking at Crescent Valley as being that team that takes the fourth spot," said Porath. "They improved a lot from last year."
The rest of Woodburn's schedule doesn't get any easier, with remaining series against the top three teams in the league - Corvallis, West Albany and Dallas.
This week, the Bulldogs will travel to Corvallis on Tuesday and Friday, with a home game against the Spartans on Wednesday.
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