With a win at home in game one, Wilsonville and La Salle square away the series on the road

The Wildcats have been on fire the past month, boasting an impressive eight-game win streak that included sweeping Hillsboro and Canby. The starting rotation highlighted by Haener, Hagey, and Schramm has brought teams to a standstill and forced teams into mediocre performances. However, La Salle Prep has shown themselves to be a resilient opponent.

Wilsonville came into game two at the forefront of the NWOC accompanied by a 7-0 league record. La Salle, on the other hand, entered the competition in the bottom half of the rankings, coming in with a record of 3-5. The Wildcats were the clear favorites in this matchup, but a slow start at the plate would end up hurting them down the line.

The Wildcats kicked off the game with a quiet offense but turned up the heat with Hagey blasting a ball to deep left field. La Salle bounced back quickly, stringing a couple good innings together in the third and fourth and forcing the game 4-2. The Wildcats managed to push the game into extra innings but would eventually fall in the ninth to a walkoff single to left field, ending the game 6-5.

Berkley Reents commented on what he believes was the deciding factor in Wednesday’s game. “It came down to things that we can control, we know we can control, and we will go out and control on Friday.”

In game three, with the series tied, Wilsonville came out of the gate strong, scoring three runs in the first four innings, catapulted by a clutch double for Kheller Larson. La Salle struck back quick putting a score next to their name off of a double in the gap to left field.  

In the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded, Luke Larson ended the run drought with a deep line drive double to the left field, bringing in Adams, Kheller Larson, and Reents and putting Wilsonville back on top 6-3.

With Justin Shramm still going strong into the seventh, he was able to finish the game and pick up his second win of the year while at the same time striking out thirteen and only giving up three hits. Shramm continues to lead this star-studded rotation in strikeouts and remains one of the most dominant and feared arms in the NWOC.

A big part of Wilsonville’s success has been plate discipline, with most of Wilsonville’s runs in both games coming from walks. Owen Eggert had this to say about the Wildcats plate discipline. “We’ve had a couple talks about certain fastball counts and realized we just need to look for pitches in our wheelhouse.”

Wilsonville will travel to Milwaukie to take on the Mustangs. One question still remains, will Wilsonville be able to keep this level of play and stay healthy as we get into the last leg of the season?