The Crook County High School baseball team had a great week, going 3-0 in league play.
The Cowboys rolled past Gladstone Monday and Wednesday, then closed out the week with an 8-4 victory over Estacada.
“It was a great week,” said Crook County head coach Steele Bailey. “It's always great to start out 3-0 in league and beating Gladstone (last year's league champion) is always a plus. It's going to be interesting to find out how league turns out, but starting out 3-0 puts us in a good position.”
Facing Estacada at home Friday, the Cowboys broke on top 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Crook County added a single run in the second to run their lead to 4-0. However, Estacada battled back, scoring three runs in the third and another run in the fourth to tie the game up. Crook County regained control of the game with a run in the fourth, another run in the fifth, and two more in the six.
“We've been hitting pretty well,” Bailey said. “We have a couple things to work on with the bats, but we come through when we need to.”
The big hit for Crook County was a two-run home run from Hayden Forman in the sixth inning.
The Cowboys outhit Estacada nine hits to four. Cody Kurtz started on the mound for the Cowboys and pitched two innings, giving up just one hit, but walking six and giving up three earned runs. Zach Allen came in in relief with the bases loaded, no outs and three runs already scored in the inning and got out of the inning with no further damage, striking out two in the process.
“I'm happy that we got the win, but I just feel like we could have done a lot better against that team, and should have,” Kurtz said. “I'm happy that we are 3-0, but we have a lot to do if we want to make it far in state.”
Allen also pitched the fourth inning, giving up two hits and a run, while striking out three in his two innings of work. Gage Martinez then closed out the game for Crook County, throwing the final three innings, allowing just one hit, while striking out eight. It was the second win of the week for Martinez as he started on the mound and threw five innings in the Cowboys' Monday win over Gladstone.
“We have six pitchers that we have a lot of confidence in, so we planned this week for what we want to do next week as well. Our pitching has been great this year and done really well.”
Three Ranger pitchers combined to strike out eight Crook County batters, but they gave up eight walks in addition to the nine hits they allowed.
Crook County was also aggressive on the base paths, stealing 10 bases in the game, including four by Tyis Yustat and three from Tyson Martinez. Yustat was 2-for-3 at the plate, while Tyson Martinez went 3-for-4 and Forman went 2-for-2. The remaining two hits for Crook County were singles from Gage Martinez and Allen.
With the win the Cowboys improved to 9-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play. The Cowboys are in a three-way tie for first place with The Dalles and Molalla. Meanwhile, Estacada fell to 0-3 in league and 6-7 overall.
Crook County is at Estacada on Monday, at Madras on Wednesday, then host the White Buffalos, 7-6, 0-3, on Thursday, with game time scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
Two over Gladstone
Crook County 8, Estacada 4
at Crook County
Estacada – 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 – 4 4 5
Crook County – 3 1 0 1 1 2 x – 8 9 1
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