Errors hurt Eagles in season openers

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, March 22, 2022

LA PINE — Errors — the result of having to be indoors almost daily until it took the field Friday, March 18 — plagued the Wallowa Valley baseball team in its opening doubleheader.

The Eagles committed 10 errors in their opener, a 15-6 road loss to La Pine, then had four in the seventh inning of a 9-3 loss to St Mary’s.

Still, there were bright spots on a day where the pitchers were on a mound for the first time all spring.

Wallowa Valley scored four first-inning runs for the early lead, but the Hawks responded with eight in the home half of the first to set the tone for the afternoon.

La Pine only outhit Wallowa Valley, 9-8. Drew Beachy was 3-for-3 with an RBI. Kylar McQuead went 2-for-2 and drove in a run, and Lane Rouse had a triple and an RBI. Beachy also had four strikeouts on the mound over two innings and Blade Suto gave up one run in two innings.

In the second game, Wallowa Valley took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a two-run triple by Rouse, and held the lead until the seventh, when St. Mary’s had four hits and took advantage of four Eagle errors to break the game open.

Wallowa Valley had five hits, with the other run coming on a Cody Fent RBI single. The Eagles also got a good afternoon on the mound from Jaxon Grover, who allowed two runs on five hits in five innings and struck out two.

Wallowa Valley (0-2 overall) travels to John Day for single games Wednesday through Saturday, March 23-26, and face Nyssa, Valley Catholic, Sisters and Ontario.