By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
INDEPENDENCE, Ore.– This past season was the exclamation point to a great high school career for Blanchet’s Dylan Cuff.
3A State Champion. First Team All-State Catcher. Catching some of the top arms in the State. And it’s something that he hopes to carry over into the Fall at Chemeketa Community College.
“It definitely has prepared me for the next level. I think the hard work that has been put in will be carried on into Chemeketa, and that’s a good thing,” said Cuff.
Cuff has been playing as a member of the Vencer 18U squad this Summer to stay fresh in the game. On Sunday, the former Cavalier catcher caught and played first base for the Vencer squad. Contributing towards a 12-6 and 8-7 victory over the Southern Oregon Baseball 18U squad at Central High School with his defense and driving in five runs and having three hits in the doubleheader.
The Summer as a whole saw Cuff and Vencer play like competition, but also having played in a few games against the West Coast League’s Portland Pickles, a team with College Ball Players on it. For guys like Cuff, Warrenton’s Talon McGorty (an incoming Linn-Benton freshman) and Blanchet’s Noah Hancock (incoming Linfield freshman), it gives them a taste of what is to come ahead for them in college.
“This is definitely preparing me for the next level and seeing some college guys. We played the (Portland) Pickles the other day and saw what it takes to be one of the best. It’s just preparing us.” Cuff said. “When you face better people, better guys, it shows all the little things matter. All it takes is one error, and that’ll cost you the game while at the lower levels, you can get away with it. You can’t get away with it now.”
Hancock drove in the game-winning run in Game 2 of the doubleheader, a single and was just one of the three hits, and one of the two runs he drove in during the game. Hancock had five runs driven in and five hits on the day. Central’s Jackson Barba hit a two-run Home Run, and Talon McGorty and Sprague’s Holden Rasmussen each struck out four on the hill for Vencer.
The Vencer 18U squad plays at Ben on Tuesday for a doubleheader before playing the Pickles again this weekend up in Portland.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
