Saints rock and roll their way to the top

Mt. Hood Saints baseball head coach Bryan Donohue called it.

Just last week, he said his team would take over first place in the South Region of the NWAC. And with four victories over the Clackamas Cougars this past weekend and Tuesday, the Saints took the lead in the South standings. They did it with simple ease, outscoring their opponent, 40-8.

“It’s not something that surprises me,” said Donohue. “We have seen ‘the best teams’ in the preseason. The only teams I hadn’t seen were in our own (South Region). It just took a little while for the guys to understand what we needed to do. We are now playing the game right and playing clean. And when we play games clean thing can get simple for this group.

“We have three more series left. It’s go-time,” the coach said. “We just need to play our baseball. Our guys are having a lot of fun right now.”

The first three games of the weekend were played at Sandy High School’s artificial turf diamond, due to poor weather conditions at both teams’ home fields. The Saints then made up a game in Oregon City on Tuesday afternoon that got rained out during the weekend.

With the four wins, the Saints improved to 9-3 in South action, and 17-14 overall, while the Cougars (3-14 South, 5-21 overall) continued to struggle, dropping their ninth contest in a row.

“That series was a challenge for us coming into it,” said Donohue. “Sometimes it can be tough playing a team (Clackamas) who have been struggling this year. But in the end, it’s baseball and it has nothing to do with the team you’re playing. They had a lot to play for, as well. It’s not like football. If the University of Oregon plays Western Oregon University 100 times, they beat them every time. But in baseball, anything can happen.”

During the series with the Cougars, Saints sophomore catcher and University of Utah transfer Bowen Ogata went 7-for-13 at the dish, to go along with eight RBI and two walks. He’s now batting .330 on the season, good for second on the team behind sophomore outfielder Taylor Travess, who’s batting .360.

With the outstanding four-game series with the Cougars, Ogata was named the NWAC offensive player of the week. “It feels pretty good,” said the modest designated hitter. “I’ve been seeing it well lately and just worked hard in practice and stuck to the same routine I have all year. It makes it a lot easier to hit when the whole team has been making big strides these past few weeks.”

Ogata was excited by sweeping the Clackamas series. “We did a good job of stringing hits together in clutch situations. And our pitchers did a good job of working quickly and getting a lot of ground-ball outs. Everything came together and we are finally getting some wins.”

Ogata has been filling in as the DH since he’s battled pain in his throwing arm. He said it’s due to a recurring injury that he never really got answers for. But he’s starting to rehab soon, and feels good at the plate.

“I was really struggling for the last couple of weeks,” said Ogata. “But I got some good pitches to hit. It feels really great to get back on track.”

He hit a three-run double in the top of the sixth inning in the third game that got the Mt. Hood team pumped up, himself included. “It was awesome. It was really nice to see that happen. I just had a lot of confidence,” he said.

In game one on Saturday, Saints sophomore hurler Seth Rayburn (3-2, 2.54 ERA) went the distance on the bump and beat the Cougars, 9-2. Rayburn pitched all nine innings, scattering five hits while walking only one batter and striking out one.

In the nightcap, the Saints won, 8-2, behind the pitching arms of sophomore Riley Moore (3-3, 3.97 ERA) and freshman Connor Stevenson (0-2, 2.67 ERA).

Not only was Donohue proud of his offensive outburst, he also gave credit to his pitching staff.

“Our pitching has really improved,” said the skip. “But you get to a point in the season where you know where you’re going to have a run at an NWAC title. And at the beginning of the season our pitching wasn’t going to win anything. The numbers at the beginning of the season are what they are.”

In the lone Sunday game, to add insult to injury, the Saints beat the Cougars in football-like fashion, 14-0.

Sophomore Nate Hunter (3-3, 5.62 ERA) picked up his second consecutive victory and tossed six innings and struck out five batters. The Saints offense got off to a hot start and Mt. Hood was up, 6-0, through three innings. In the sixth inning, the team tackled on eight more runs.

Then in game four on Tuesday, the Saints continued to pound Clackamas, winning 9-4. Freshman Cobi Johnson (3-1, 2.36 ERA) picked up the victory.

The Saints travel today to Clark College (9-5, 12-16) in Vancouver to square off with the Penguins in a doubleheader slated for 2 p.m.

On Saturday, the Saints host the Penguins in another doubleheader. The games are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

Advocate Staff