No Hitter! Roadrunners Send Clackamas Packing With a Doubleheader Sweep
Talon McGrorty took a breath and settled in for just his 74th pitch of the night with two gone in the bottom of the seventh. With a runner on second, McGrorty was not only pitching to secure a narrow 1-0 victory but also to complete a seven-inning no hitter.
McGrorty gave CCC’s Aaron Menchaca a low offspeed pitch, the ball got knocked on the ground right to Bryant Starr at short, first baseman Boston Caron dug his foot into the base, stretched and secured the ball with everything he had – the celebration was on.
“The third inning. I looked up at the scoreboard and realized the hits weren’t lit up yet, and I was like ‘Screw it, I’m doing the whole thing,’ ” McGrorty said.
The no-hit performance was just a piece of a great day for Linn-Benton, also defeating the Cougars 6-1 in the first game of the March 3 doubleheader. The games were played at LBCC, but CCC was technically the home team in both games, as their home field is undergoing repairs.
Game one started a little slow for the Beaks, at least offensively.
Clackamas got the runs started on a two-out RBI-single in the bottom of the third, but it didn’t take long for the Roadrunners’ bats to get active.
The top of the fifth started with Chanz Flores working a full-count walk before Aiden Hazen knocked him home on an RBI-double. Noah Scharer also doubled two batters later, which scored Hazen.
In the eighth, the team scored two runs again using the exact same formula, the RBI-hits coming from Caron and Jackson Fera.
The Roadrunner’s stayed relentless in their ability to garner runs by any means necessary in the top of the ninth, but this time around, it was Cougar mistakes that helped push along the basepaths.
No hits, two errors, one stolen base, a wild pitch and three walks did the trick for, yet again, two runs for LB.
“Million different ways to get on. Get hit by a pitch, work a walk, get on by an error, whatever it is we’ll take any runs we can get, especially in this conference,” Head Coach Andy Peterson said.
In the first game, the rotation flipped to the top and Lane Simonsen was on the bump. There were some innings he worked clean and others where he got himself into jams, but he always got right out of it, picking up the win in five innings of work, allowing the lone CCC run.
Dayne Castillo stepped in for a four-inning save to follow up Simonsen’s performance.
“Lane came out and shoved for five innings, just had come in to finish exactly what he started and take home a dub,” Castillo said.
In game two, McGrorty’s domination was the story from the jump. He finished with seven strikeouts, a hit batsman in the seventh and a dropped third strike in the fourth being the only things separating him from perfection.
It was another slow start offensively. The Beaks were also held without a hit until they threatened to score in the top of the fifth, but stranded a pair of runners.
In the seventh, Nick Biagi smoked a double and later advanced to third on a passed ball. With two outs Mark Carpenter stood in.
“I knew I had to come through. I tried to bunt first I didn’t get the squeeze down, and so I felt it a little bit extra that I had to get one through for my boys,” Carpenter said. The freshman third baseman hit a hard grounder that just snuck through the Clackamas infield.
Carpenter has started the season batting .320, and he’s one of many roadrunners who have started the year making consistent positive impacts at the plate. Four men on the team currently possess a .400 or higher OBP (with at least 20 at bats): Biagi (.485), Caron (.442), Hazen (.424) and Flores (.407).
The pitching staff has obviously started hot — McGrorty now leads starters in ERA at 1.19, but one of the biggest keys to the team’s ability to prevent runs at such a high level has been stern, team defense.
A few days ago LB was on the other end of a doubleheader sweep, so this was a big bounce back for the club, which is now 12-2 overall.
“Today started and I was telling myself, ‘It’s going to be a good day,’ I got on the mound, everything felt good, and it ended up being a good day,” McGrorty said.
LBCC’s next games are Sunday, March 8, away at Southwestern Oregon. First pitches are set for noon and 3 p.m., Emmett Stacher and Cooper Yudishthu are slated to make their turns in the Beaks’ rotation.
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