Outlaws baseball continues winning ways

The Outlaws beat the Billies by a slim 6-5 margin at Pleasant Hill (PH) on Monday, April 28 and then wrapped up their week with two big wins. Sisters shut out La Pine 11-0 at home on Friday, May 2, and one day later beat Grant Union 15-6.

In Monday's game against the Billies, Sisters scored two runs in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. Tanner Hodges singled, advanced on two passed balls and then scored on a catching error to give the Outlaws their first run. Jarred Hasskamp got on base with a single and Nate Jackson's single brought Hasskamp home.

The fifth inning was highlighted by Jackson's two-run homer which pushed the Outlaws to a 4-0 advantage.

Pleasant Hill came on strong in the sixth and seventh innings. The Billies scored two runs in the sixth to close the Outlaw lead to 4-2. In the top of the seventh PH scored three runs and took the lead at 5-4.

The Outlaws battled back to win it in the bottom of the inning. Hasskamp hit the ball to second base and reached first on an error. Taylor Davenport hit a homerun and Sisters won the contest by one, 6-5.

Hasskamp went the distance for the Outlaws on the mound and struck out six batters. Hasskamp was 2-4 at the plate.

"Jarred (Hasskamp) is such a competitor and manages to always get it done," said Coach Steve Hodges.

Davenport was 2-3 with two RBI and Jackson was 2-4 with three RBI. As a team the Outlaws had 10 hits and two errors.

Hodges had special praise for Max Stovall, Davenport and Jackson.

"Max hit two very hard line drives for us today, and one was a double to the fence," said Hodges. "He keeps improving, is getting better every game and it's nice to see his hard work is paying off. Taylor (Davenport) and Nate (Jackson) both had critical hits for us today. Taylor's homerun in the seventh turned out to be the game winning run and Nate hit his two-run homer with two outs and the bases loaded."

The Outlaws scored seven runs in the fifth inning to shut out La Pine on Friday. Stovall got the offense started in the fifth with a three-RBI, bases-loaded double. Davenport and Tyler Miller both had two-run homers in the inning. Ryan Burbank pitched a three hitter in the contest.

On Saturday, the Outlaws traveled to Grant Union (No. 4 team in state at 3A level) in John Day. Sisters' capped their scoring with eight runs in the seventh inning for a 15-6 victory.

Davenport highlighted the fifth inning with a two-out, three-run homer to tie the game 4-4.

Miller, Stovall and Davenport all had big hits for the Outlaws in the seventh. Miller hit a double off the wall to drive in two runs, Stovall had an RBI single and Davenport had a two-RBI single.

Sisters finished with 14 hits in the game. Jackson, Hasskamp and Tanner Hodges all pitched for the Outlaws. Hitting stars for the Outlaws were Hasskamp who went 3-4 and Stovall, Davenport, Miller and Brandon Morgan who all went 2-4. Hodges was 1-1, and was intentionally walked four times in the contest.

"It was nice to see our offense respond late in the game," said Hodges. "They really kicked in and made some hard contacts."

Sisters will play at Junction City on Tuesday, May 6, and then travel to Cottage Grove on Thursday to wrap up league play. The Outlaws are currently 8-2 in league and 12-10 overall.