As spring rolls around so does the yearly tradition of baseball around the country. All levels of baseball start during this exciting time including the pros, minor leagues, college, high school, and little league.

Wilsonville baseball looks to continue the success they have had in previous seasons. After a shortened season last year, and losing multiple seniors after that season, Wilsonville has started the 2022 season hot. With multiple standouts across the diamond, including Cole Hubka, Max Bledy, Rochne Beecham, and Jacob Ogden, Wilsonville looks to make a deep run in the playoffs this year.

While asking Cole Hubka how the season has gone thus far this, is what he has had to say: “We have been playing good ball, been doing good on the offensive side and the pitching is starting to come together it has been fun.” Indeed Wilsonville has had a good start to the season, with an overall record of 6-2 and as of April 7th, an OSAA ranking of 4th in 5a  is nothing to scoff at.

However the goals for this Wilsonville squad are much higher then that. “We want a lot more wins; we plan on everyone doing their, playing team baseball and we will do all we can do to end the season in a championship.” After starting the season with wins over Cleveland and Centennial, Wilsonville suffered its first loss of the season against Tualatin.

After that one run loss, Wilsonville bounced back with dominating wins over Grants Pass and Gresham. Rochne Beecham got very hot during this stretch, including a 5 RBI game against Grants Pass and a mammoth two home run game against Gresham.

Wilsonville then made the long trek to Pendleton and beat the Buckaroos 12-9, powered by Cole Hubka’s first career home run. Riding high on a big wave of momentum Wilsonville started a three game series against the La Salle Falcons. As Wilsonville’s biggest rival and a fellow member of the NWOC, this series would mean a lot as the time for winning conference titles rolls around.

La Salle had lost 5 of their last 6 games heading into the series, and that tough stretch continued in the first game when Wilsonville infielder Matthew Gomez had a walk off base hit to give Wilsonville the 4-3 victory. La Salle regrouped the next day however, and handed Wilsonville by far its worst loss of the season. A crushing 7-1 defeat for the Wildcats evened the series at one win a piece and the rubber match will take place on April 8th. That game is massive for the outlook of both teams seasons with both vying for NWOC title wins.

After the La Salle series, Wilsonville plays all league opponents, other then a game against Bend and West Salem, for the rest of the year. Looking to future years, I asked Keenan Sanford what it was like having underclassmen Justin Schramm and Berkley Reents on the team. “We have taught those guys a lot, especially how to be a Wilsonville varsity baseball player among other things, but they have taught us some stuff that us upperclassmen can improve on.”

The future for Wilsonville baseball is bright, not just for this year, but for years to come as well. We will see what this Wilsonville team can do for the rest of the season.