Outlaws are tearing up the league in baseball

The Outlaws baseball team recorded its fourth straight league victory with an 8-2 win over La Pine at home on Friday, April 8. Three days earlier, Sisters defeated the Huskies 10-2 at Sweet Home.

In Friday's action, Jordan Hodges and Erik Carlson combined forces and pitched a no-hitter against La Pine. Hodges pitched the first six innings and recorded 10 strikeouts, and Carlson came in as relief in the seventh and had one strikeout.

Freshman Joey Morgan caught for the Outlaws the entire game and did a great job behind the plate.

"He blocked balls and just didn't let anything get past him," said Coach Steve Hodges. "He's very mature for his years and is the cornerstone of our defense. He has a very good arm, and our pitchers have confidence in him. He even threw out a runner today."

La Pine scored two unearned runs in the first inning and then watched as Sisters racked up the runs to earn the 8-2 win.

Sisters started off the first inning with base hits from Marcus Arends and Jordan Hodges. Erik Carlson followed with a two-RBI double to the left center gap, and the Outlaws tied it up 2-2.

The Outlaws tacked on a run in the third. Hodges got on base with a bunt single and Arends tripled to right center field and brought Hodges home.

With two outs in the fourth, the Outlaws scored three runs to push to a 6-2 advantage. Jon Lahey reached first via an error and then advanced to second on a passed ball. Aaron Selig took the plate and hit a double to right center field to score Lahey. Erlandson drew a walk and Hodges was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Arends hit a line drive up the middle to score two and put the Outlaws up by four.

Sisters picked up their final two runs in the fifth. Lahey and Sam Calarco both singled, and then Erlandson's single down the third-base line wrapped up the Outlaws' scoring.

Coach Hodges said, "Our pitching has been good. We're throwing strikes and forcing teams to swing the bat. With 11 strikeouts and no hits, like we did today, you're going to win. But, we still need to work on our offensive execution. We have to drive in runs when we have players on base, especially with less than two outs."

Three days earlier the Outlaws beat the Sweet Home Huskies by eight.

Justin Erlandson got Sisters on base with a lead-off single in the first inning. Justin stole second and scored on a wild pitch to put the Outlaws up 1-0. Hodges took the plate, drew a walk and stole second. Joey Morgan drove in Hodges with a single to right center field and Sisters took a 2-0 lead.

Sisters added five runs in the second to push to a 7-0 advantage. Shane Groth's two-RBI line drive to left center field highlighted the inning.

The Huskies scored two runs in the third on one hit to narrow the Outlaws lead to five.

Erlandson doubled down the left-field line in the fifth and Hodges followed with a hard-hit RBI line drive single to left field to put Sisters up at 8-2. Sisters tacked one run in the sixth and in the seventh Erik Carlson hit a hard single to drive in Hodges and seal the win.

Groth pitched the first five innings for Sisters and Hodges finished out the last two. Groth had eight strikeouts and gave up only one hit and two walks. Hodges recorded six straight strikeouts.

"Our pitching was excellent," stated Coach Hodges. "The guys threw a lot of strikes and their control was outstanding. We were really efficient on defense because of that."

Sisters is perfect at 4-0 in league play and 9-1 overall. The Outlaws were to play at Cottage Grove on Tuesday, April 12, and then head to Elmira on Friday,

April 15.