By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– The State Playoffs have not been kind to the Stayton Baseball team over the years.
They’ll get to the Field, get to the bracket, but couldn’t get over the hump by advancing.
Their last playoff win was in 2004 when they defeated Riverside 2-0 and before that, 1994 when they reached the 3A State Semi’s in the old 1A-4A Model.
And with how the game was starting, it looked like it might have been another year of a first round exit.
Entering the bottom half of the second inning, the Eagles trailed the Tigers 10-2 with La Grande scoring ten unanswered runs in the top half of the second inning to take the lead.
The hill that presented itself to the Stayton Baseball team was a big one. But man. They found a way to just keep climbing, to just keep fighting and grinding their way back into the game in a situation where most teams would probably just call it a year.
They couldn’t get it rolling in the bottom half of the second, but things began to turn in the third inning. They turned a quick three-up and down inning to halt the Tigers’ rally.
Then the rally began. It started with a Colton Connally double to start the inning that was followed by two walks to load bases with no outs. Ryland Thiessen singled to start the scoring portion of the rally and by the end of the inning, La Grande lead that was 10-2 was now 10-9.
La Grande loaded up the bases with one out in the top half of the fourth inning, only to see sophomore Maddox Basl turn back-to-back strikeouts to close the inning. After inheriting a nightmarish situation in the second inning Basl, a sophomore, pitched three shutout innings over the third, fourth and fifth innings.
“I just had to do it and do it for the team,” Basl said. “Just throw strikes and just let the infielders, the outfielders help out and hit. It was unbelievable how we came back down eight and came back.”
And it was just unbelievable. What made it even more incredible was that Stayton wasn’t done yet.
The Eagles scored five more runs in the bottom half of the fourth inning to regain the lead. They took a 14-10 lead into the fifth inning.
“It was a great fight. Honestly, even when we were down 10-2 I saw the ‘W’ in our books. We fight hard, we all play really well together and once we get fired up, there’s no stopping us,” said Connally. “We fight hard and when we get down in games, we don’t give up. We come back and usually we win them. La Grande is a great team.”
Connally was looked at too late in the game when Stayton needed an out.
La Grande didn’t just come over to Stayton to just fade away either. Despite surrendering 12 unanswered runs, their defense held the Eagle bats to one run over the final two innings and eventually got runs across home.
It was 15-13 Stayton leads with one out when Connally came in. Both team’s were gassed. Tired. But the job wasn’t done.
With one out remaining, Connally and the Eagle defense traded a run for an out, leaving Stayton clinging to a 15-14 lead with two outs in the final inning. La Grande then drew a walk to put two runners aboard, but Connally responded under pressure by inducing a game-ending fly out to secure Stayton’s first playoff victory in more than 20 years.
“I think I gained some gray hairs, my blood pressure is probably higher than it’s ever been, but I couldn’t be more proud of the boys. At this point of the season, it doesn’t matter if it’s a pretty win or an ugly win, a win is a win and that keeps you going,” said Stayton Head Coach Kyle Baker. “To have these guys be gritty and keep it going was pretty fantastic. I’m just really proud of these guys.”
The win marks Baker’s 200th career victory coaching as well.
The Eagles are off to play Scappoose on Friday. Stayton took the game, 4-3, on April 7 in Stayton.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
