By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

EUGENE, Ore.–  The Boys in Blue rode their momentum to Eugene to face the number one seed in all of 6A in Sheldon.

The season to this point had it’s ups and down’s for the Pacers, and Head Coach Marco Tavera knew that his team let a few games slipped past them, but the baseball genius in Tavera knew that the Three Rivers League made them better.

“The season was up and down. We let some games get away from us that if we would have won it would have strengthen our RPI,” he said.  “But some of the tough losses early in the season made us stronger for the regular season. Playing in the TRL it makes you have to be good or you will lose every day.”

The game against the Irish started rough, and down 4-0 early, Lakeridge could’ve packed it in and called a year.

But that wouldn’t be who the Pacers have been.

“Our kids stayed with the game plan and battled out of it,” said Tavera.  “We ran ourselves out of innings.  But then we put some hits together and got a big two-out hit by Cal Seneker. That scored two.”

That hit came in the Top of the fourth inning to cut that 4-0 lead to 4-2.

Lakeridge had their opportunities in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but the contact they’ve made to the rawhide went straight to the gloves of Sheldon.

While the Irish defense did just that, the bat of Sheldon proved worthy in the sixth with two runs that sealed both squads faiths as the Pacers, winners of 13 of their last 16 entering Wednesday’s game, saw their season come to a close.

But confidence is high as Lakeridge takes the pain of this game and convert this pain to motivation entering 2017.

“There are no moral victories at this point. Sheldon made the played that they needed to make to win the game,” said Tavera.  “When you lose a game like this you want to get back to the practice field and get after it again. Now our kids have to focus on getting better in the off season and getting faster and stronger.

“You wish you can carry the momentum into the next season however you lose a lot of key players to your success.  You just have to go back to the drawing board and continue to get better.”

With names like Beau Bryant, Kyle Beckley and Tommy Andrew to name a few who are returning next year from this year’s squad, they’ll won’t forget how this season ended for them.