By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Silverton used a strong second inning Friday evening to really put some distance between themselves and West Salem.
The Foxes led the Titans 1-0 going into the second inning, the lone run coming across after a Sawyer Enderle double, but it quickly ballooned out to a 9-0 lead by innings end. Timely hits, mixed in with some miscues by West Salem’s defense, allowed Silverton to build some separation in the contest at West Salem High School.
Bryson Nygren, who started on the bump and went four-and-two-third innings with six strikeouts, drove in four of his 5RBI’s in the frame. One coming early in the inning and three more coming in the latter part of the Foxes’ run as the Linn-Benton Community College-commit showcased his batting ability on this day as well as his pitching prowess.
“It gave me a lot of confidence throwing on the mound, knowing I can throw strikes and they’ll hit it. But our energy got to stay up when we do that. After we did that, our energy went down, and we got to stay up,” said Nygren. “(West) put together a couple of good at-bats, but we stayed in, and a couple of free passes hurt us. But to stay within the at-bats, even though they were putting together good ones, was good.”
The Titans slowed the bats of the Foxes down after that, only allowing four more runs to come across the board in what would be a 13-1 defeat in six innings on Friday. It was a good reminder for West Salem seven games into the season, that those little things do go a long way and focusing on those little things will help limit the damage done and keep them in games as the season continues on for them. Having a good mentality as well, regardless in the field or in the batter’s box, will go a long way.
“Those innings, we’ve had a few of them, we’ve struggled with them in the past, it’s the little things that we need to focus on. So in those innings, we need to focus on making that one play, making that one throw every time. We need to make those plays, and we’re out of that inning,” the Titans Carter Howard said. “It’s super helpful, not just if we’re in the field. If we have a bad at-bat, a bad approach at the plate and we go into the next inning with a good mentality and just forget about it, flush it, we’ll come ready to play and we’re restarted like it never happened.”
West Salem’s lone run came off an error in the bottom half of the third inning that made it 9-1 Jack Hansen, Cole Hansen, and Howard each had a hit in the game for the Titans. Conrad Sotelo struck out four batters in two innings of work.
Enderle drove in two runs for Silverton, who improved to 7-0 on the year, with Colson Swartz and Nolan Horner each collecting two hits each. The Foxes will be at McMinnville on Tuesday before opening Mid-Willamette Conference play on April 11 at home against Crescent Valley/Kings Valley Charter.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
