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O'Connor
turning around fortunes
by Jason Stone
DATELINE: DVUSD - Sandra Day O'Connor baseball coach Jeff
Baumgartner asked his team to buckle down when things were
getting tough a few weeks ago. It appears the Eagles got the
message.
O'Connor rolled past out of state teams Monarch, Lake Oswego
and West Linn last week to put together a three game winning
streak after a stretch of nine losses in 11 games.
"I don't want to take all the credit, but the guys are
playing with a little more focus," Baumgartner said.
"Now it's time for us to get some (more) wins."
O'Connor's
bats woke up in last week's wins as the team scored 34 runs
in the victories. Over the last five games, in which the Eagles
have gone 4 1, O'Connor has amassed 55 runs. In the previous
13 games, the Eagles had scored only 57 runs. |
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"We're
playing with more enthusiasm and energy," Baumgartner said.
"We didn't sit back when we were down."
The explosive week helped the Eagles move up the Northwest Region
hitting charts. Nick Carillo (.446 average), Brian Carr (.433),
Ryan Skube (.421) and Cliff Shepard (.414) are all hitting over.
400, and Carillo leads the region in homers with six.
Travis Lane and Carr had big games against Lake Oswego last week.
Down 7 5 going into the seventh, O'Connor exploded for eight runs
to earn the victory.
"It took a little while to get some things to come together,"
Baumgartner said. "But we were also playing tough teams and
facing some tough pitching. But we finally got some guys who are
starting to play a little better with pressure."
O'Connor's pitching came up big last week as well, with Josh Moody
striking out 16 batters over eight innings.
Moody (3 2) was scheduled to start April 4 in the team's first ever
game at Boulder Creek. Results of the game were unavailable at press
time. O'Connor was also scheduled to play at Deer Valley April 5
and host Boulder Creek April 7.
With losses in three of their first four region games, the Eagles
(8 11 overall) entered the week 2 1/2 games behind first place Mountain
Ridge in the Northwest Region. |
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