The Westview summer team learns a lot for next spring

Robinson Construction most emphatically did not get everything it wanted from the recently completed OIBA state tournament.

Robinson, Westview High School's summer baseball team, gave it a pretty good run, though, rallying from an opening-game loss with three straight victories before finally being eliminated by McMinnville on Friday at Clackamas High School.

“It's tough to drop your first game and try to come all the way back,” said Robinson center fielder Kyle Cox, who went 1-for-3 against McMinnville's Oregon Mainline Paving. “But we made a run at it and had some fun doing it.”

“I had a ton of fun and I loved being with the guys,” said Robinson catcher Kyle Henderson, who went 1-for-2 in his team's 4-0 loss to McMinnville. “Look out for us next year. We're going to be really good. I think we can compete for a Metro title and for the state title.”

After that opening-game loss – a 4-1 setback to Century on July 24 – Robinson bounced back to beat Barlow 3-2 on July 25, eliminated Sunset's Platt Electric 13-0 and Oregon City 13-3 on July 26, then finally came up short in Friday's shutout loss against McMinnville.

McMinnville 4, Robinson 0

After knocking the ball over the Clackamas High field the day before, Robinson just didn't have it on Friday against McMinnville pitcher Gage Gubrud. Gubrud limited Robinson to just two hits and two walks while striking out eight before giving way to reliever Blake Egli.

“He had a sneaky fastball and he was bringing in a lot of change-ups and off-speed,” Cox explained. “It was coming in nice but we just didn't have a good approach.”

“I've got to give it up to him. He pitched really well,” Henderson said. “His slider, he was really hitting his spots low and away, and his fastball he hit away too.”

McMinnville, which went on to finish third in the 16-team tournament, got the game-winning run in the bottom of the second inning Jacob Bannister singled to left with two outs and advanced to second on a Robinson error. From there, Spencer Payne had a single of his own – this time to right – and another Robinson outfield error allowed Bannister to race home for a 1-0 lead.

McMinnville added another run in the second when Nick Springer singled to left to plate Adrian Uscanga, then tacked on its final two in the sixth when Christian Radke notched an RBI single and Zach Rhoads forced home another with a bases-loaded walk.

Robinson's best chance to score came in the top of the sixth when Jeremy Erisman reached base on an error and took second when Henderson walked, but Gubrud bore down to get the final two outs, then saw his team add its final two runs before giving way to Egli.

“Yesterday, we put up 26 (runs) and we felt pretty good with the sticks and we had a pretty good approach,” Cox said. “We did the same pre-game and everything to try and repeat it today, but we just didn't put it together.

Robinson also wasted a solid pitching effort by Nick Braukmann, who scattered seven hits and five walks while striking out four.

“He kept us in it,” Henderson said. “Nik's been great all summer and he kept us in the game.”

Robinson 13, Oregon City 3

Robinson led just 1-0 after two innings against OC on July 26, but broke the game open with four runs in the third inning, four more in the fourth and four in the sixth to pull away.

While Cox kept Oregon City – the 2012 Class 6A state champ – off balance all day, the Robinson offense kicked into gear in the third. There, Erisman got things going with a one-out walk, and Henderson and Shane Suyama followed with back-to-back singles, Suyama's bringing Erisman in to score.

Cox added an RBI single of his own and Connor Zwetsch a two-run double to push ahead 5-3. Teagan Lind stroked another two-run double in Westview's four-run fourth, while Parker Kelly's two-run double highlighted the team's four-run sixth.

Erisman, Henderson, Cox, Zwetsch, Lind and Kelly had two hits each, with Zwetsch hitting a solo homer in the second.

Robinson 13, Platt Electric 0

Robinson and Platt Electric battled on even terms for 3-1/2 innings in their elimination game, but Robinson lit its offensive fuse in the bottom of the fourth, scored eight runs in the next two innings and raced to victory.

“We've been getting good pitching all year long. It's when we hit that we really get going,” said Westview third baseman Suyama, who went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in six runs, his day highlighted by a fourth-inning grand slam. “It's when we get our bats going that we're really our best.”

Zwetsch did his part too, limiting Platt to just two hits and no walks while striking out nine before leaving the game at the end of the fifth.

“My curve was really working today – that was my go-to pitch – and when they tried to get on that, I was able to throw the fastball for strikes,” Zwetsch said.

Offensively, Lind doubled home two runs in his team's four-run first inning, Henderson tripled in Robbie Hutchinson in the second, and Suyama crushed a grand slam home run over the left-field fence to extend his team's lead to 10-0.

Henderson then added a sacrifice fly and Suyama a two-run double to account for Robinson's three runs in the fifth.

Platt managed just three hits in the loss, its best chance to score coming in the seventh when Jake Colombo doubled to left with two outs and took third on a wild pitch before Robinson closed out the game.

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