La Grande cruises into semis

WORKING IT: Jake Workinger got the job done at the plate and on the mound during an 11-1 win against Baker Monday. - Observer photos/PAUL HARDER

The final game of the day between La Grande and Baker County lasted the same amount of time and ended in four innings.

La Grande advanced to today’s semifinals with a 11-1 victory over Baker County.

La Grande went undefeated through pool play and earned a top seed in bracket play.

Monday’s victory did not come as easy as the first two for La Grande. Baker County held La Grande scoreless through two innings, allowing only one hit and two base runners.

La Grande was saved by a huge third inning and stellar pitching from Jake Workinger who struck out five batters, allowing only two hits and no runs through 4 1/3 innings.

“I thought things went pretty good for me on the mound today,” Workinger said. “We really hit the ball well in that third inning and that helped us.

“Baker County is a really good team. They hit the ball well. They are the best team we have played so far.”

Baker County entered the game needing to hold

ROCK AND FIRE: Union County’s Jacob McKay delivers a pitch against Milton-Freewater Monday.

La Grande made Baker County fans sweat in the third inning as the numbers continued to pile up on the Mel Fischer Field scoreboard.

After being stymied through the first two innings, the La Grande bats came to life in the top of the third inning.

“We got back to the top of our order and our guys got a second look at that pitcher,” La Grande Manager Kraig Jacobs said. “We knew he was a good pitcher because we have been watching him in this tournament.

“I think that’s where our experience benefits us. Our guys kept their noses to the grindstone and stayed with it and good things happened.”

G.T. Blackman began the inning with a single to centerfield and after a well-placed bunt, Zack Jacobs cleared the bases with a deep shot to the centerfield wall for a two-run triple.

Jonathan Warren added another two-run triple five batters later.

Isaac Chamberlain added a two-run double and Workinger completed the scoring a two-run single.

Before Baker County could catch its breaths, La Grande had tallied 11 runs in the inning.

La Grande finished with eight hits and left four runners on base. Baker County had two hits and left two runners on base.

Wallowa Valley may have played in the best game of the tournament Monday morning. Pilot Rock led Wallowa Valley 12-5 entering the bottom of the sixth inning when Wallowa Valley scored six runs but left a runner on second base and fell short, 12-11.

“I thought we did pretty good today,” Wallowa Valley’s Josh Leckey said. “We did real well hitting the ball. Overall the tournament went pretty well for us. Now we’ll just play baseball for fun the rest of the summer.”

Union County bounced back from its opening game loss and defeated Baker County Sunday, but Monday Union County slipped back into the loss column.

Milton-Freewater used 15 runs in the first inning to ease past Union County in the second game of the day.

“I’m really proud of the way our guys battled back in this tournament,” Union County manager Robert Houck said. “The way they came back after that first game was great. They played really hard. Our pitching wasn’t great but I think we all had fun.”

Pool play has completed and the bracket round is finalized. La Grande will play Pilot Rock today at 11:30 a.m. The first place team from the blue pool, Pendleton, will play the second place team from the red pool, Baker County, at 2 p.m. today.

Red Pool 

                W        L

Pendleton                 3         0

Pilot Rock                2         1

Harney County         1         2

Wallowa Valley         0         3

Blue Pool 

               W        L

La Grande                3          0

Baker County           1          2

Milton-Freewater         1          2

Union County           1          2

Saturday’s games

Pilot Rock def. Harney County, 12-10

Baker County def. Milton-Freewater, 14-4

Pendleton def. Wallowa Valley, 13-3

La Grande def. Union County

Sunday’s games

Union County def. Baker County, 14-10

Pendleton def. Pilot Rock, 12-2

Harney County def. Wallowa Valley, 11-7

La Grande def. Milton-Freewater, 16-1

Monday’s games

Pilot Rock def. Wallowa Valley, 12-11

Milton-Freewater def. Union County

Pendleton def. Harney County, 24-4

La Grande def. Baker County, 11-1

Today’s games

Semifinals

Red No. 1 vs. Blue No. 2, 11:30 a.m.

Blue No. 1 vs. Red No. 2, 2 p.m.

Wednesday’s game

Championship game, 2 p.m.