By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

INDEPENDENCE, Ore.–  The Post 20 Dirtbags picked up their second Area-3 league series win of the season following their 4-3 win over the Mid-Coast Dungies Tuesday afternoon at Central High School.

On the heels of their ten-inning victory Monday in Newport, the Dirtbags bounced carried that momentum in Tuesday’s doubleheader as Central’s Malachi McCormick went the distance where he struck out eight in the doubleheader opener on home turf.

“It was a lot of fun and we knew a lot of their hits were because of that coastal wind yesterday.  I knew there’s a lot bigger field today so I can trust my defense cause I know that they can chase down balls and make plays, so that was nice to go out there and trust it.  Give it all my best,” McCormick said.  

“It was nice to get that second win because we’re looking to get (Head Coach James) Mensing his first sweep as a team in a series.  So I knew that I had to get the second one, so it was nice to get him that one and give us a chance.”

Incoming West Salem sophomore Aidan Rock and McKay’s Carlo Cerventas led the offense in the doubleheader.  Both had two hits in the opening game and both contributed at least a hit in the second game as they rallied back from a slow start to the third-game of the series.

For Rock, it’s cool to see himself contribute, pointing to being able to start and contribute with the Titans as a freshman this past Spring, as his Post 20 squad chipped a 6-1 deficit to 6-4 going into the seventh inning.  One area of improvement, points Rock, will be their situational hitting as they enter their doubleheader with the Emerald Challengers and their Area-3 Finale with the Post 58 Crushers going into the State Play-In Round at Roseburg next weekend.   Pointing to getting the bases loaded with no outs and only managing to get three runs out of it

“We built off of (yesterday’s win) into the first game today and could’ve played better in that second game obviously,” Rock said. “We need to get some wins because we need to get some momentum going and go win some games. We need to improve on our situational hitting because in the sixth inning (of Game 3), we got bases loaded and no-outs.  Didn’t score any (more) of those and we could’ve.  So we need to work on hitting, but we’ll get there.”

Photos By Jeremy McDonald