East Oregonian
STANFIELD — Weston-McEwen came into its final doubleheader of the regular season on Friday needing to win just one game for a guaranteed Special District 6 league title.
The TigerScots left Stanfield with two wins and the crown.
Weston-McEwen’s Dallas Reich out-dueled Devin Bailey of the Tigers in Game 1 for a 2-0 decision that gave the TigerScots (18-4, 13-1 SD6) the No. 1 seed for the district tournament and a bye into the finals at Bob White Field in Pendleton on Saturday, May 19.
“We kind of rolled the dice and went ace versus ace here,” said Stanfield coach Bryan Johnson, who could have tied for a league title by sweeping the twin bill.
Instead the Tigers (14-9, 9-5 SD6) ended tied for second place with Horizon Christian but get bumped to third by run differential as a tiebreaker. The teams split their season series but Horizon Christian scored more runs (15-11) so it will draw hosting duties in the first round of districts on Tuesday in Hood River.
The winner of that game will face Weston-McEwen on Saturday in the finals.
After Game 1’s classic low scorer, Game 2 provided the pop. The TigerScots scored six runs in the first inning before Stanfield put up its own six in the second to start the scoring frenzy.
But Weston-McEwen wouldn’t go down without a fight just because the regular season championship was already locked up, Reich said.
“We knew we had to win one, but we didn’t want to win just one,” Reich said. “I mean, championship teams don’t win just one.”
The TigerScots rolled out 20 hits in the second game to get up by enough that even Stanfield’s late push couldn’t break the barrier. The final score was 13-10, a vastly different game from the one earlier in the day.
The polar roads to the same outcome showed the TigerScots can win both with beauty and finesse and when the extra runs need to be gutted out.
“We’ve been working hard for it,” coach TJ Haguewood said. “You know the boys have been having success all year in football and basketball and hopefully we’ll continue to battle.”
The Weston-McEwen boys won league titles in the previous two sports seasons as well.
Reich and Jared Bond each had three hits in the night cap for Weston-McEwen and Bryce Linker and Devin Haefer did the same for Stanfield.
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Contact reporter AJ Mazzolini at (541) 966-0839 or at [email protected].