By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– When Korben Schumacher picked up the final out via strikeout to seal Regis’ 5-4 victory over Monroe/Alsea on Monday afternoon, he let out some emotion in celebration.
The Rams had just held off the Dragons, who were mounting a comeback when Schumacher got the game-ending strikeout.
After falling behind 5–1, Monroe/Alsea chipped away at the deficit. Two runs in the sixth inning cut the lead to 5–3, and the Dragons added another in the seventh capitalizing on a Regis error. Monroe/Alsea tested the Rams’ youth, but Regis on this day had the answers.
With the score 5–4, the tying run stood at third and the go-ahead run at first with one out. Monroe/Alsea attempted to score on a passed ball but was caught in a rundown, with Regis winning the exchange. A subsequent walk moved the trailing runner to second, and back-to-back steals put runners on second and third—placing the tying run 90 feet away and the go-ahead run in scoring position.
“It was stressful, Monroe is a great hitting team and getting the ball by them is pretty tough. Kudos to their coach and their staff, they teach them pretty good and I just told myself to throw strikes and I guess I did,” said Schumacher of the moment. “We’re a good team, we’re young and we make some mistakes, but if we can come back from them like we did, we’ll be a good team.”
It came down to him versus Jesse Sexton, but for Schumacher, with all the noise and pressure of the situation, it only took four pitches to close out the victory. It was his lone strikeout in the two-thirds inning outing for the junior, but it came on the heels of Owen Eaton’s 11 strikeout performance that spanned six-and-a-third innings on Monday in the 2A/1A Special District 3 match-up.
It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but a win is a win. Especially a win that helps you win a league series like this one. The win gave the Rams the two games to one league victory over Monroe/Alsea as the Rams now turn their focus to Central Linn on Tuesday for that series.
“All of us hit the ball, me and Korben threw a gem. I don’t think we could’ve been beaten that game. Our energy was high from the start and we had it,” Eaton said. “A win is a win and a win gives you energy. When you’re happy, it leads to playing well. That’s what our coach tells us all the time…If you’re happy, that means we’re doing good and we’re going to play good.”
The Rams-Cobras series kicks off on Tuesday, at home, starting at 4:30pm.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
