Baseball: Dixon Dukes let game come to them in win over Oregon

DIXON – Showing patience when needed, but also being aggressive when the opportunities arose, the Dixon baseball team defeated Big Northern foe Oregon 14-3 in five innings Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Field in Page Park.

Up and down the lineup, every Dixon starter – and one of the reserves – either had a hit, scored a run, or recorded an RBI.

“Everyone really played their part, and we put it together as a team,” said left fielder Griffey Rodriguez, who had two hits and four RBIs out of the No. 9 spot in the order. “We wanted to be aggressive from the start, get after it right away, swing the sticks and put the ball in play.”

After starter Ethan Van Horn worked a 1-2-3 top of the first, the Dukes (9-1, 8-0 BNC) scored five runs in the bottom of the inning. Andrew Pollom and Eli Dever drove in runs with ground balls, then Van Horn drew a bases-loaded walk before Rodriguez capped the scoring with an RBI fielder’s choice.

Dixon tacked on four more runs in the second, highlighted by Bo Evans’ RBI single and Rodriguez’s run-scoring double.

“It really pumps everybody up as team, gets us going when we score early and take the lead,” Rodriguez said.

Oregon (1-8) scored three runs in the top of the third, the first on an error and the others on a two-out, two-run single by Miley Smith that greeted Dixon reliever Michael Ullrich.

We’re the tale of two teams,” Oregon coach Nate Girton said. “Tonight was one of our better games; I thought we put the ball in play, and that’s what we have to do. But we’re getting there, it’s just a long process – but as you can see, I’m smiling tonight.”

Dixon answered with five more runs in the bottom of the frame. Pollom started it with a sacrifice fly to drive in Gage Burdick, then Jake Gaither ripped a triple down the left-field line to drive in Dever. Evans followed that with an RBI double, then he and Mason Randick scored on Rodriguez’s two-run single up the middle.

“Everybody got in the ballgame tonight, we got guys some playing time, we got to see some good things,” Dixon coach Jason Burgess said. “Tonight, we took advantage of them being down with pitching and things of that nature. It’s just great to see the guys get out here and get some things done. We didn’t really execute anything, it was just the game came to them and they took it pitch by pitch, just let them do their thing.”

Van Horn (3-0) got the win, allowing three runs two earned – and two hits in 2 2/3 innings, striking out two and walking two on 44 pitches. Ullrich gave up two hits and two walks in two scoreless innings, striking out three while also throwing 44 pitches. Ryan Pitzer came on with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fifth, and threw one pitch, inducing a game-ending groundout to third.

“In addition to playing everybody, we got three guys on the mound – which we wanted to do,” Burgess said. “Pitzer hasn’t been on the mound all year because he’s got a little arm issue, but it was good to get him out there and at least give him the feel of it again. We’re sitting pretty with arms for Thursday against Stillman Valley, which will be a big game for us; we’ve only got two conference games left after that one, and hopefully we can keep that zero in the loss column.”

Nico Giuffre took the loss for the Hawks, allowing 10 runs – six earned – and four hits, with six walks and a hit batsmen in 2 1/3 innings. Jackson Werren allowed four earned runs and four hits in 2/3 of an inning, walking one and striking out one. Jacob Smith walked two and struck out one in a scoreless fourth inning.

“There are some positives we can take away from today, and that’s what we have to do,” Girton said. “With a young team, you can’t just focus on the numbers; you have to think of the positives and take it one step at a time. If we drag out all the negatives all the time, we’re not going to get anywhere, so we’ll keep learning from this.”