By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore — When Jake Dodge connected on his two-run home run in the fourth inning, it began a momentum swing in favor of the Marion Berries during their series finale with the Portland Pickles.
Down 2-0 prior to the home run, the long ball tied the game up at two, and it set up the Berries for possibly another big win against the West Coast League’s top dog.
“It was a big shot for sure, Tyler Dunning did a amazing job getting on base for me so all I had to do was to put the ball in the air and it would’ve tied it up or something good would’ve happened, ” said Dodge. “It made my job a lot easier. Just hit the ball hard somewhere and do what I did. I’m pretty happy about that.”
A Southridge-grad that played his last few years at Linn-Benton has helped develop Dodge into the power hitting first baseman that he is today. In the Fall, Dodge heads to Metropolitan State University of Denver in Colorado, a Division-II school.
“It was an absolute blessing. I had a lot to do mentally that I had to learn, and Petey (Linn-Benton Head Coach Andy Peterson) and that staff did an amazing job making sure that I was ready for the four year level. I got to spend a year-and-a-half there, I’m really happy with what I got and what I learned from it. It taught me whar a brotherhood is like,” said Dodge of LBCC.
Dodge’s home run was just one of two that was hit in Sunday’s game with the Pickles for the Berries. Oregon State’s Paul Vazquez hit a three-run Home Run in the bottom half of the fifth inning that handed the Marion Berries a brief 5-2 lead on Portland.
Brief in that the Pickles began to mount back. They tied it at five in the top half of the sixth inning before taking a 9-5 lead after a four run sixth inning.
The Berries plated two more runs, one each in the bottom halves of the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, but couldn’t rally in time to complete the three-game home sweep of the Pickles.
But. To take two of three from the 2024 WCL Champions, it’s still an amazing feat for the new squad. Something that they’ll carry over into Tuesday’s series with Bend.
“It wasn’t the way that we wanted it to end the week, but we did start the second half of league 5-1, so it puts us in a good place. Portland is an extremely talented team, they won the first half, so winning the series puts us in a really good spot to make sure that we’re ready for the rest of the second half,” said Dodge.
Sunday’s game marks the end of a stretch of games that saw the Berries play in twenty straight games before entering Monday’s off day. To go 5-1 in their last six games going into the day off, it’s a nice confidence boost for the Berries, who are 17-16 on the season.
“It’s been a long stretch, a twenty game stretch. We had no days off, we lost a couple of guys, we’re looking to finish it off strong,” “We got down early, we came baxk with that five. It brought us some momentum. We lost it a little bit, but we battled there at the end,” said Taylor Brenneman said. “Definitely a confidence booster. They’re a good team. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. It’s just who comes out to play. As long as we come out to play, I think we’ll be in a goof spot to make playoffs. “
Dunning (UCLA), Vazquez, and Breckin Hadley (St. Olaf College) each led the Berries with two hits each. Logan Anderson (University of Portland) led the Berries pitching staff with four strikeouts.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
