Tualatin comes back from early loss to place 4th at tourney

CLACKAMAS — After suffering a first-round loss at the OIBA State Tournament, the Suburban Door baseball team faced a long road back.

Well, the determined Dawgs made it most of the way back up that long road.

And they came oh so close to going even farther.

The Tualatin-based Suburban Door team stormed back to get four straight wins following that opening loss before seeing its season end with a 4-2 setback to McMinnville in an elimination bracket semifinal game of the 16-team, double-elimination event held Friday at Clackamas High School.

“Our kids grinded it out all tournament,” Suburban Door coach Adam Strachan said following the loss to McMinnville. “Our kids battled hard. One or two plays made the difference.”

With it strong finish to the tournament, the Dawgs finished the summer season with a final overall record of 30-9. The Tualatin team, which had a lot of turnover from the spring’s high school squad, also seemed to show plenty of promise for the future.

“We grew as a family and as a team,” Suburban Door first baseman Austin Marsh said. “We’re going to build on what we did.”

“The season went really well,” Suburban Door catcher Jake Gellos said. “We’re working on getting ready for next year. I think next year is going to be huge.”

The Tualatin team, while now looking ahead to next spring, finished its summer slate in impressive fashion. After falling 3-2 to Sunset in a first-round tourney game on July 24, the Dawgs began battling back.

They started their tourney run with a 5-3 win over Reynolds (see related story) on July 25. Suburban Door then scored a 4-1 win over Century and an 11-2 victory over Sherwood in tourney games played last Thursday at Hare Field in Hillsboro.

Suburban Door opened play on Friday by posting a 4-1 victory over Clackamas in an elimination bracket quarterfinal game played at Clackamas.

That put the Dawgs into the elimination bracket semifinal game with McMinnville later on Friday.

In that contest, McMinnville took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single by Gage Gubrud.

The Tualatin team answered back with a run in the top of the second. Andrew Schlottmann got things going with a leadoff double to right-center field. Schlottmann moved to third base on a fly out to right field by Connor Scott. He then scored on a single to left field by Jared Sablan, tying the game at 1-1.

Suburban Door then struck for another run in the top of the third inning. Cooper Brunner drew a walk with two outs in the frame.

He advanced all the way to third base on a McMinnville throwing error on a pickoff attempt. Brunner then scored on a wild pitch to give the Dawgs a 2-1 lead.

But McMinnville rallied, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Nick Springer had the big hit of the frame with a two-run double that helped give McMinnville a 4-2 advantage.

Sablan led off the top of the fifth inning with an infield single for the Dawgs, but he was left stranded on base.

In the top of the seventh, Schlottmann drew a leadoff walk. But the Tualatin team couldn’t move him around as McMinnville held on to get the 4-2 victory.

“We played so well in the first game today,” Marsh said. “I think we were a little flat for this one.”

“Everyone wins, everyone loses,” Gellos said.

Suburban Door had four hits in the contest. Sablan had two of those hits while Brandon Shroyer and Schlottmann added one hit apiece.

Schlottmann pitched the first four innings for the Dawgs. He gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits. Sablan pitched the final two frames.

Suburban Door also turned a pair of double plays in the contest, both started by Kyle George playing at third base.

Earlier on Friday, the Dawgs turned in an impressive performance in their 4-1 win over Clackamas.

It was their fourth straight tournament victory.

“It’s been crazy since we lost the first one,” Scott said after that game. “We all knew we could make a run.”

In that contest, the Tualatin team took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Brunner scored on a grounder by Schlottmann.

Clackamas tied up the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Austin Kelly led off with a double down the left-field line and ended up scoring on a Suburban Door error.

But the Dawgs answered back in a big way in the top of the fifth inning, scoring three runs in the frame.

Brunner walked to lead off the inning. He then beat a throw to second following a bunt by Brandon Shroyer. One out later, Schlottmann singled to center field, driving in Brunner to give the Dawgs a 2-1 lead.

Scott followed with an RBI single to right, plating Shroyer. Schlottmann then scored on a squeeze bunt by Sablan to give Suburban Door a 4-1 lead.

That proved to be more than enough as Scott, pitching for the Dawgs, shut out Clackamas the rest of the way to wrap up the victory.

“Now, every game is the most important game of the summer for us,” Strachan said after the win. “We’re having to play a lot of baseball and our pitchers are carrying us.”

Scott, who started the opening-game loss to Sunset, came back to throw a strong game on just two days rest. In a complete-game performance, he gave up one run on three hits while striking out four and walking three.

“I was playing with a lot of emotion,” Scott said. “I wanted to get back out there.”

Suburban Door had seven hits in the win. Gellos had two of those hits while Shroyer, Sablan, Jon Fishback, Schlottmann and Scott each had one.

In last Thursday’s opening game with Century, Cole Vessey pitched the Dawgs to the victory.

“It was some of the best stuff he’s had all summer,” Strachan said. “He threw hard and threw strikes.”

Marsh went 3 for 3 at the plate in the win and Brunner had a two-run single in the second inning.

Brunner was the winning pitcher in the victory over Sherwood later in the day.

Jon Fishback had a leadoff double in that game and Brunner drove him in with a triple. Schlottmann went 2 for 3 at the plate with a double.

“Even through we didn’t make it to the championship, we’re happy,” Marsh said after Friday’s game with McMinnville. “We feel good at the end.