Cougars clinch trip to semifinals

GT CRUSIER: G.T. McKenzie beats the Adrian tag on a triple to right field. - The Observer/BARRETT HENDERSON

The Wallowa senior picked up his fourth win of the season, pitching a complete game in the Cougars’ 10-0 victory over Adrian in the first round of the Class 2A, Special District 7 tournament.

McKenzie gave up only one hit to the ‘Lopes and walked two batters. He struck out 10 batters through six innings.

McKenzie went 2-for-4 from the plate with a double and a triple.

“I felt pretty good on the mound today,” McKenzie said. “I gained a lot of confidence. I really wanted some redemption because the last time I pitched against them we only won 5-4.

“I just wanted to come in and throw as good as possible. We’re feeling pretty good right now going into the final games.”

The story of the game may have been Adrian’s five errors and numerous bad decisions. Wallowa capitalized on the mistakes and committed no errors.

The Cougars jumped out to an early lead scoring three runs in each of the first two innings and two more in the third.

Wallowa scored its 10 runs off of eight hits.

Tyler Harshfield had three RBIs after going 2-for-4 with a triple.

Andrew Wilson went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Gary Cornford was 2-for-3 at the plate. But his major contributions came from behind the plate.

“G.T. had a good game, but Gary really called a great game,” Cougars’ head coach Warren Wilson said. “Our catchers call the pitches, we as coaches don’t make the calls.”

On April 3, Wallowa swept the ‘Lopes in a doubleheader at Adrian, 5-4 a nd 17-0.

The Cougars advance to the next round in Joseph where they will face the loser of the first seeded Union and second seeded Joseph game that begins at 10 a.m. Friday.

“We really just want to keep our heads up and finish strong,” McKenzie said. “Joseph has always been our rivals being only 30 miles away. Union has always had outstanding coaching. They are always just a good team.”

The second game will start 30 minutes after the first game. The winner of the second game will play the winner of the first game in the district championships.

“The guys are excited to play Friday,” Warren Wilson said. “It’s a place we want to be. It’s a place we thought we would be last year, but we lost a heartbreaker. They are excited about it because they are one step closer to a goal that our seniors set.

“We have played Joseph very well this season. When we played Union we didn’t play defense well. But today I thought we did great defensively.”

Adrian                        000 000 —  0 1 5

Wallowa                     332 101 — 10 8 0

W — McKenzie, L — Purnell. 2B— W, McKenzie, 3B— W, McKenzie.

Huskies power past Spartans

ELGIN — A rare event in high school sports helped fuel a 16-4 win for the Huskies baseball team against Pine Eagle Wednesday.

Elgin hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the second inning.

“I’ve never seen it done in high school baseball,” Huskies head coach Greg Luse said. “I didn’t even realize until the inning was over what had happened.”

Clint Predmore started the trifecta with a grandslam. Justin Harris and Wayne Lauricella followed with solo home runs.

Jered Harris also went 3-for-3 in the game.

Elgin will face Wallowa Friday in Joseph.

Pine Eagle         020 02 —  4       8 6

Elgin                              580 2x — 15 15 2   

W — Hardy.  L — Tanaka. 2B— E, Baker. HR— PE, Tanaka, E, Predmore, Ju. Harris, Laurcella.