The Saxon baseball team finished the year with a 23-6 record including postseason, and reached the semifinals of the OSAA baseball state playoffs.
Entering the playoffs as the fourth seed in state, the Saxons found themselves in a good position at the start of the tournament. In round one, they played against the twenty-ninth seeded Sheldon Irish, knocking them out 9-4. Starting pitcher Sean Alvarado ‘19 had himself a game, allowing no runs over the five innings he pitched and striking out six batters. The bats were also rolling for the Saxons early on, taking an 8-0 lead in the bottom of the first, which ultimately led them their 9-4 win.
In the second round, the Saxons found themselves facing off against a familiar foe, West Salem. After the Titans racked up two runs in the second inning, they held South to no runs until the bottom of the fourth. There the Saxons had three one-out base hits and forced an error to take the 3-2 lead. The Titans tied the game at three a piece in the sixth inning, and knocked out back-to-back homers, giving them a two run lead heading into the bottom of seven. However, the Saxons refused to give up and let their season end, rallying back with two outs, as a single from Alvarado scored an on-base, Elijah Enomoto-Haole ‘19. Still down one run with two outs, Oregon State commit Ryan Brown ‘19 laced a single to left field, scoring Brett Matthews ‘20, who was walked earlier that inning. This tied the game at five and sent the second round matchup into extra innings. With a pitching duel entering extras, the score remained 5-5 until the bases were loaded for Kaiden Doten ‘19 to hit a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning. This sent the Saxons to the quarterfinals.
There they played West Linn. With Brown on the mound for the Saxons and Jonathan Kelley [2019 Xavier University commit] on the Mound for West Linn, the matchup was expected to be a pitching duel. However, the Saxons found the bats early, setting Greyson Hanowell ‘20 up to launch his fourth home run of the season over the left field fence, giving the Saxons a 3-0 lead after the first. After a smooth two innings, West Linn strung together a couple walks and a hit batter to load the bases, leading to a grand slam, putting the Lions up one in the bottom of the fourth. Facing adversity once more, the Saxons came together and brought in four more runs in the bottom of six, giving the Saxons a three run lead going into the last inning. After a rally from the Lions which brought in two runs, the bases were loaded when Haole came into the game with two outs. Haole caught the grand slam-hitting Kelly off guard, striking him out swinging on a full count curveball. This sent the Saxons to the semifinals for the second consecutive year.
In their first playoff away from home, the Saxons traveled to Jesuit for their semifinal match-up. Facing the Crusaders in the first game of the season and falling 8-0, the Saxons came ready to fight. The Crusaders got off to an early one run lead in the first which was followed by the Saxons stringing together two base hits, a walk, and forcing an error to put South up 2-1. The score remained the same until the sixth inning, when Jesuit fired back and gained a lead at 3-2 until a baserunner that supposedly scored was called out on appeal, leaving the game tied at two a piece. The game went into extra innings after a scoreless seventh, but the Saxons failed to hold Jesuit’s potent offense in the bottom of the eighth when they got two base hits to set up the Crusaders for a walk off single, sending Jesuit to the finals.
