Going 1 for 3 at the plate is pretty good in baseball. But the Cowlitz Black Bears will have to do better than that in the win column if they want to make the playoffs for the first time in club history.
The Bears dropped a deflating 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Walla Walla Sweets on Sunday at David Story Field, losing two of three to the Sweets and putting their playoff-hopeful backs squarely against the wall.
Cowlitz now must take two of three games from West Division champion Corvallis to finish second and make the playoffs. The Bears (27-24) visit the Knights (35-16) on Monday and Tuesday, then host the Knights in their regular season finale Wednesday. Cowlitz is 1-2 against Corvallis this season.
Cowlitz's competition for the final divisional playoff spot, the Bend Elks, fell 5-4 to Klamath Falls to close their regular season Sunday. Had the Elks won, the Bears would have needed to sweep the Knights to make the playoffs.
Taking a series from Corvallis will be difficult, but Cowlitz coach Bryson LeBlanc hasn't thrown in the towel yet.
"It's doable," LeBlanc said. "With these guys and these athletes and their attitude and their resilience, I wouldn't put it past us. Did we make it hard on ourselves? Yeah. But I wouldn't put it past us."
LeBlanc will throw ace Jeff Gold against Corvallis tonight, following up with Lower Columbia College product Stuart Fewel on Tuesday. The two pitchers have combined to toss three complete games?— two by Gold, one by Fewel?— in their last three starts.
LeBlanc has not picked a starter for Wednesday's finale.
It's basically playoff baseball from here on out, just as it was this weekend between two teams vying for a postseason berth. By taking two of three from the Bears, the similarly two-year-old Sweets (24-27) need just one win to clinch their first playoff trip as well.
"It was pretty awesome," LeBlanc said of the ballpark atmosphere Sunday. "I thought the fans were great tonight. It was a great turnout. I thought the fans were really into it, I thought our boys were really into it. That was a really good baseball game, a baseball game that I thought we had control over."
Cowlitz led 4-3 entering the ninth and was just one out away from victory when reliever Andy Lines gave up the tying run on a single to center field.
Richi Sandoval relieved Lines and escaped the inning with a flyout. But in the 10th, Sweets shortstop Alex Stanford crushed a solo home run to right?— the third Walla Walla homer of the game?— to give the Sweets a 5-4 lead.
Meanwhile, Cowlitz batters went 0 for 8 in their final eight at-bats.
"They just came up with that big swing when they needed it, the big hit," said Bears starting pitcher Ian Ekery.
"Stanford, he's a heck of a hitter," he added. "I struggled with him the whole night, and we struggled with him the whole series. He just came up with that hit when they needed it."
Stanford was 7 for 13 in the series.
The Bears managed 13 hits on Sunday, but it didn't translate to runs. LeBlanc felt that Cowlitz left two runs on the bases when Kirk Cunningham got picked off leaning too far off second base in the second inning, and left one or two more runs off the board in the fifth when Kevin Schwartz grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
"We could just never get the one to break it open," LeBlanc said. "If we get the one to break it open, then who knows."
And who knows whether the Bears will be able to right the ship in time to take a series from the best team in their division, with two of three games on the road.
"Corvallis is a great team," Ekery said. "Obviously they're first. I feel that we have just as much ability to beat them. With the playoff race being what it is, that might light the fire under our butts a little bit."
