By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
ROSEBURG, Ore.- South Salem’s Kellen Bowman, came out strongly in the Saxons 5-0 victory over Roseburg Wednesday afternoon.
The sophomore, along with his defense, kept the Saxons in the game through the opening three innings of the game, shutting out the Indians while Bowman struck out four batters. Buying time for the Saxon bats to come around.
Something that they did in the top half of the fourth inning as they plated four runs in the inning and added a fifth in the top half of the fifth to give Bowman a little more of a cushion to settle in and pitch to start their Spring Break slate of games.
“It’s really good, I love coming out here in this amazing weather and playing baseball. We got great hitters on our team, and for them to be able to do that, it puts me in a better situation and just go on the mound and do what I do,” said Bowman.
That four spot, those four runs, were a good start to their Spring Break road trip, and now it’s just a matter of getting those reps said Kevin Semm. The early season wet weather has put a damper on getting those on-the-field reps, but now they’re getting those live reps. And the hopes of getting everything timed out for the remainder of the season.
“We’re going to need both sides (offense and defense) working, maybe not at the same time, but one-at-a-time to stay in those games and give us a shot. so that’s really huge,” said Semm. “It’s great, especially going on a road trip, the first game having that happen, it’s a great start. We said yesterday that it’s a business trip, but we’re going to have fun. Take care of business and on Friday, we’re going to have fun, it’s the first game of three.
Bowman struck out six in five innings before handing the reins over to Drake Fredinburg, who closed out the final two innings of no-hit baseball to close out the 5-0 win. Noah Scharer went 4-for-4, and Semm also had a multi-hit game with two hits and drove in a run. Josh Feik drove in two runs for South Salem.
South Salem heads to Orland, California, to play Gridley and the Trojans of Orland in a doubleheader Thursday. Gridley and Orland are Division 3 teams in the CIF, equivalent to 4A schools here in Oregon, and reached the CIF Division-III Super Regional Round last season. In California, it goes Section Playoffs to Super Regionals to the Northern California(NorCal) or Southern California(SoCal) Regional Finals. There is no State Championship Game in California.
The doubleheader starts at 4 pm for the Saxons.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
