By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– Crosshill Christian’s Miles Lute came out firing in Game 2 of Friday’s doubleheader against Santiam.
The first inning. He threw three pitches and got the Wolverines to pop out on each one of those pitches to turn the very quick, three-up and down inning. He followed that with a three strikeout second inning to set the tone for his Eagle squad.
“I think it was pretty huge because they had a good guy on the mound and me being able to set the tone with that four pitch inning to start, get in their heads and put the hammer down in the first inning,” said Lute.
By the start of the third inning, the Eagles led 9-0 on Santiam. Crosshill Christian, as they did in Game 1, had the pressure going on both sides of the ball. Theo Watkin led the Crosshill offense with 3RBI’s and Gavin Chin drove in another 2RBI’s. The Eagle defense, with Lute going four innings with seven strikeouts and Blake Pynch going the fifth, combined to throw a no-hitter in Crosshill’s 11-0 victory over Santiam. Closing out the three-game sweep of the Wolverines.
“Crosshill Christian is the number two team in the State for a reason and they showed us the attention to detail, their approach in every aspect of the game. That’s what I just got done telling my kids, we need to develop that. If we want to get to our goal is, which is League Playoffs, we have to have a better approach in every aspect of the game,” said Santiam Head Coach Clint Forste. “Today (Crosshill) did a better job at that. That’s our league. Our league is tough.
“Every week is a new great team to play, but I like what we’re doing. We’re a young team, and for the most part we really do get after it. We have to be more consistent.”
Mason Lindemann, one of the four seniors on the roster, led Santiam with two hits in the doubleheader and had a strikeout pitching in the second game. Liam Duchuteau, one of the three freshmen on the roster, had a team-high two strikeouts pitching on Friday for the Wolverines. Santiam will start their series with East Linn Christian on the road before hosting East Linn on Friday in Mill City for a Doubleheader.
Crosshill Christian, who will play Mohawk for their next series, improved to 9-0 on the year. A strong start for a program that came close to the 2A/1A postseason as a young baseball program still on the up-and-up.
“Compared to last season…just doing the little things. We’re one year older, one year better, one year stronger,” said Lute. “The coaches have done a great job getting us prepared for the year and I think we’re off to a great start and we want to continue it.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
