Outlaws are on a winning streak

The Outlaws baseball team threw runs across the plate by the bucketful to defeat La Pine, Junction City and Cottage Grove and end their week of play with three consecutive victories.

Nate Jackson's grand slam homerun highlighted the Outlaws 21-2 victory over La Pine on Monday, April 14.

Freshman Eric Carlson was pulled up to play on the varsity team and went 2-2 at the plate with two singles. Max Stovall was 2-3 with two RBI, and Tyler Miller 3-3 with two RBI.

Tanner Hodges went 4-4 including a double and a homerun and led the team with eight RBI.

Ryan Burbank pitched a two-hitter for the Outlaws.

Coach Steve Hodges said: "It was good to see the younger players get some experience. Ryan (Burbank) did a good job and pitched us out of a couple situations with the bases loaded, and his control got better as the game went on."

Two days later the Outlaws stomped Junction City, the No. 1 ranked team in the state, 13-2 in just five innings.

Taylor Davenport's grand slam homerun in the fourth inning was the highlight of the contest. Chase Klient started the inning off with a single, followed by Hodges who reached first base on a fielder's choice. Jarred Hasskamp singled to load the bases. Jackson was hit by a pitch and walked in a run. Davenport followed with a grand slam over the right field fence to push the Outlaws to an 11-2 advantage.

Of his big hit Davenport said: "It felt good when I connected, but I didn't realize it was a homerun until I was on my way to second. Then, I saw the umpire raise his hands and realized it was a homerun, and so I slowed it down to a jog."

Sisters scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to cap their scoring at 13.

The Tigers were unable to score in the top of the fifth. Hodges and Jackson turned a double play to end the game.

Jackson pitched the first three innings of the game, and Hasskamp pitched the final two.

Davenport went 3-3 and drove in seven runs for the Outlaws. Hasskamp was 2-2 with a double, and Stovall had a double in the game.

"We knew this would be a critical game in the first round, and it was nice we came out hitting the ball," said Hodges. "We did a lot of damage today. Our bats were good, and we put the ball in play. We got multiple runners on and then were able to get some big hits."

Davenport said: "We've really made big improvements from our first game of the season until now, and I believe we'll be a contender for the league title."

On Friday, April 18, Hasskamp pitched a no-hitter to lead the Outlaws to their 3-0 shutout over Cottage Grove. Hasskamp had six strike outs in the game, hit one batter and gave up one walk.

"Jarred got stronger as the game went on," said Hodges. "He had great location and changed speeds well. He got ahead in the count and had batters off balance the entire game. He had a great performance, and without his pitching it would have been a tough game."

The Outlaws scored all three of their runs on passed balls. The win put Sisters at 5-1 at the end of the first round of league play.

"I'm extremely pleased we ended the first round at 5-1," said Hodges. "We lost 4-3 to Marist and were right there in that game. We're getting better as a team, and we're starting to play with more confidence. I know that we can play with any team in the league, and now we have to play like a play-off team."

The Outlaws will play at Elmira on Tuesday, April 22 and then host Marist on Thursday.