By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
DALLAS, Ore.– The Dallas baseball team clutched up when they needed to the most down the stretch against Lebanon on Friday evening at Dallas High School.
The Warriors rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game up at five-all going into the bottom half of the second inning. With the momentum against them, the Dragons dug in their heels and went to work.
Landen Peirce settled in after the rough second inning where Lebanon scored those four runs. From the third inning through his exit with an out left in the contest, Peirce pounded the zone and trusted his defense behind him.
In those final three-and-two-third innings, he allowed six hits, struck out seven and no runs came across home plate. It gave his offense an opportunity to see if they can piece something together as they did in the bottom half of the first inning.
“I was like, ‘you know what, I’m going to bear down and I’m going to help my team the best I can’. I turned it around at the end of the game and got the mindset of, ‘I need to help my team the best that I can and this is how’,” said Peirce.
Peirce finished the day with nine strikeouts in six-and-two-third innings pitched. When he exited the game, the Dragons led the Warriors 11-5 with the offense coming around in the game.
It started in the bottom of the second when they scored four runs to take a 9-5 lead into the third inning. Peirce helped his cause in the bottom half of the fourth inning with an RBI single that drove Thomas Hess home.
Speaking of Hess, the Junior hit his first home run in High School in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Dragons the six-run cushion going into the sixth. It capped a six-run run by Dallas that helped them to the finish line, bouncing back from their tough 6-5 defeat to Woodburn from Thursday night in Keizer.
“Those were huge runs. We had two games against South Albany, we’re up by nine and they come back and those runs mean a lot,” said Hess. “We just got to battle through them and win them.”
Hunter Rivers had a team-high two hits while three Dragon players drove in two runs apiece. Cohen Vandiver led the Warriors with three hits and drove in two runs as the two teams will meet again Monday at Lebanon High School. First pitch is at 5pm.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
