By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

INDEPENDENCE, Ore.–  Carlo Cerventas can ball.

Of the five hits that the Post 20 Dirtbags collected Monday afternoon against the Corvallis Marketmen, the McKay senior collected three of them.  Going 3-for-3 at the plate in the process in the Marketmen’s 4-0 Area-3 League game at Central High School.

“Everyone does their part, I do my part and we’ll do a good job,” Cerventas said.  “We have a good team.  If we can contain our discipline, our play ability we will go far….it’s all timing and discipline.”

Outside of one inning, the third inning where Corvallis took advantage of a bases-loaded situation for two runs, it was an evenly matched game.  West Salem’s Joel Spencer settled down the chaos in relief for Central’s Brandon Komes as they went toe-to-toe with West Albany’s Nate Marshall.

Marshall went the distance for the Marketmen, who improved to 4-0 in league play Monday, striking out ten Dirtbag batters in the process on the road with the series turning its focus to Corvallis High School Wednesday for a league doubleheader.

“The biggest thing was to have confidence in knowing that I can do it.  If you don’t have confidence and then you’re not going to be able to do it.  I knew I had guys behind me that I trusted and I trust all the other eight guys out there on the field.  When you can trust everyone, it makes you feel a lot better about pitching,” Marshall of his performance.

“Honestly it’s an effort thing.  We just need to come ready to play like it’s any other team,” Marshall adds about Wednesday’s doubleheader with Post 20.  “We can’t look back to today and say, ‘hey we won.  We’re going to roll them over’.  They’re not going to roll over, it’s league.  The biggest thing is to take it as a new day and give it 100-percent effort.”

Tyler Seiber, Marcus Allen, Karsten Sullivan and Carsib Gerding all led Corvallis with two hits apiece offensively.

For the Dirtbags, they had their moments that could’ve kept the game closer than the four-run spread.  Errors defensively allowed the Marketmen to build some momentum offensively while Post 20 base running errors allowed Corvaills to get out of jams presented by the Dirtbags without runs coming across the plate.  Things that they can take into the doubleheader to improve on as they look to bounce back.

“There’ll definitely be a fire burning under us, we want to win those games and the series.  A loss like this hurts us and I think we’ll come back a lot stronger and prepared for Wednesday and be ready to swing the bats,” Spencer said, who pitched the final three-and-a-third for the Dirtbags.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald