Oregon Mainline Paving’s Mac Myers turns on a pitch, driving it to left field during the team’s opening game against visiting Liberty. OMP lost the opener, but rallied to take the nightcap and split the doubleheader.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

OMP's Dillon Crawford sneaks in past the Liberty catcher as he beats the throw to home on a sacrifice fly to score.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

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Oregon Mainline Paving had hot bats all afternoon, but a few defensive miscues led to a 13-9 loss in the first of two games Friday against league opponent Liberty at the Patton Middle School field. OMP tightened up its defense in the nightcap, however, and the bats continued to drive home runs in a 9-3 win. The victory improves the club to 15-6 overall and 7-2 in league play as the regular season begins to wind down.

“We’re really happy with where we’re at at this point,” coach Todd Peterson said. “We’re in really good shape as we head into the playoffs. We’ve still got a few more league games to take care of, but I think we’re looking pretty good.”

In the opener OMP found itself down late, but had a chance to make a comeback. Trailing 11-8, McMinnville had the bases loaded with no outs. The team was able to get just one run out of the setup, however, and Liberty tacked on two more in the top of the seventh to secure the win.

After a short break, the teams returned to the field and Liberty jumped out in front early with a run in the first and another two in the second. Pitcher Conner Owens, though, began to zero in — he allowed just one hit and no runs after the second inning — and Oregon Mainline Paving caught fire in the bottom of the fifth.

Freshman Ryan Aker got the rally started with a double to the right field corner and Dillon Crawford followed with an RBI triple. Crawford came in on a passed ball and Owens then hammered a double to right field. He advanced to third on another passed ball and then scored on a Ivan Gagatko groundout.

A walk and a single gave OMP another pair of base runners and Matt Shirley sent them home with a two-RBI triple, giving OMP a 7-3 lead. Shirley would later score on the third passed ball of the frame and there was never any doubt that the game belonged to the home team.

Owens earned the complete-game win, striking out nine with four walks (two in the seventh) while allowing just four hits.

“Offensively it helps when you’ve got a guy like that pumping across strike after strike,” Peterson said. “He had a heck of a game tonight, for sure.”