Fifth-inning struggles doom North Marion in 9-4 loss
AURORA, Ore. - Coming off of a close, heartbreaking loss to La Salle just two days prior, North Marion knew they had a fighting chance versus the No. 7-rated Falcons when the two clubs met again on Wednesday night at Bob Brack Stadium. In Monday's eleven-inning marathon loss, North Marion committed back-to-back errors in two crucial, late-game situations, giving way to a 4-3 La Salle victory. Errors were not on the Huskies’ side on Wednesday either as three North Marion errors in the nightmarish fifth inning aided a seven-run Falcon effort, essentially ending the game.
Things began very smoothly for North Marion behind the arm of sophomore Brock Breshears who headed into the game with a team-leading 2-0 record on the mound. Breshears did not waste any time getting rolling, as he faced just one over the minimum through the first four innings. However, Brock could not navigate his way through the fifth inning, as he hit a roadblock when five of six consecutive Falcons earned base hits. With a wild pitch, a balk, and the aforementioned Husky errors interspersed throughout the same six-batter period, Breshears' tenure on the mound came to a close when senior Spencer Beachy came in for relief. But La Salle still did not take Beachy’s entrance as a cue to quiet down, as they tallied three more runs to close out the fifth inning while picking up two more in the top of the sixth.
North Marion did not stay completely silent offensively throughout the game as they did pick up four runs off of seven hits on the day. In fact the Huskies did hold an early 2-0 advantage after senior Danny Robles belted a ball to deep left field, resulting in a double and two North Marion runs. But in what has been the case in both of the first two games of the season series, La Salle answered any and all North Marion run-scoring innings with bigger and better ones of their own. The Huskies also picked up a run in the fifth - when a double by senior Brandan Hopper scored senior Zach Williamson - and another run in the seventh, - when a single by junior Wyatt Moore scored Zach once again. However, those two runs could fall under the classic "too little, too late" category as La Salle went on to maintain a comfortable cushion and win by five.
Glancing down the North Marion box score, successful days came from Zach Williamson and Danny Robles. Zach picked up two hits, scored twice, and swiped three bases while Robles had the important-at-the-time two-RBI double. Other hits came from leadoff man Kyle Williamson, Brandan Hopper, Wyatt Moore, and Nat Barrell. Breshears and Zach Williamson continue to sit atop the offensive statistics as they both have a team-leading batting average of 0.333 to this point in the season.
After the disappointing results from this week's action, the Huskies look to next week, where they will be in an away-and-home situation with the Gladstone Gladiators. Games are scheduled for both Tuesday and Thursday, beginning at 5 p.m. North Marion's league record now stands at 1-3, with a 4-7 mark overall. Now that the toughest league opponent is out of the way for the next stretch of games, the Huskies look to do some damage eager to even out their league record and hopefully surpass the 0.500 mark.