By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SCIO, Ore.– For the first three, four innings of Monday’s season opening game with Kennedy, the Scio Baseball team showed flashes of what they are capable of and the potential that they have entering the season.
After three innings, the Loggers were knotted up with the Trojans at three apiece. Kennedy was coming off a 2A/1A State Runner-Up finish, and was coming out a little bit rusty while Scio came out with energy and momentum.
It was a beautiful day to open up the season. It felt like a late-April, early-May type of day and the crowds showed out for that. And for the Loggers, they were feeding off that crowd energy with that new season of hope feeling.
“We came in with a lot of energy, we got a good crowd and people are excited for the team that’s coming off that. So we were feeding off that and the top half of the order really brought it today,” starts Scio Head Coach Jacob Ruby. “We got a lot of talent coming out and they’re young, they’re figuring it out. It’s figuring out who’s going to step up a little bit. We got a team and we’re trying to figure out who are our top pitchers, who are our top guys that are hitting in the bottom of the order, that kind of thing.
“Who’s going to be that top guy that’s going to be hitting in that seven hole and knock runners in. Those kinds of things. It was encouraging, but we got some guys who definitely need to step up.”
The Trojans started to come around in the top half of the fourth inning. They regained the lead, 5-3, going into the fourth inning before taking off in the fifth and sixth innings. Kennedy scored five runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to extend their lead to 15-3 as their defense pieced together scoreless innings.
The Trojans walked away with the 15-3 victory to open the season, but know these reps are going to be crucial. With their goal returning to the State Championship Game in June, every rep now will go a long way in preparing them for that possible return to the Title Game.
“(Last year) was really big. I was really pumped, it was my first time being in a really big playoff atmosphere. I didn’t think that team would make it, but sure enough we made it as far as we could. Our dugout being hyped like it was last year, us bringing everybody up and just taking those reps in practice really seriously,” said Kennedy’s Gio Vaquera.
“(Today) I felt like it went like a lot of our games last year. We had slow starts, but the first game, got to get the shivers out. Everyone was everywhere. First game jitters really, getting loose, getting out there,”
Vaquera led the Trojans with three hits and Henry Beyer drove in four runs in the victory. Kennedy will host Santiam on Tuesday before heading to Roseburg to play Umpqua Valley Christian.
Scio, who saw Tyler Seifried strike out three in three-and-a-third innings in his Opening Day start and drove in a run, will head to play Horizon Christian of Tualatin on Wednesday before hosting Corbett on Friday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
