After a strong start to the baseball season, North Medford had seen nothing but frustration over the past week of play.

The Black Tornado struggled to put hits together, struggled defensively and on the mound and, most important of all, struggled mentally during their modest three-game skid.

Whatever frustrations had been built up coming through all of that, however, were unleashed Saturday afternoon in a Southwest Conference doubleheader against visiting South Medford.

North Medford combined for 27 hits and 30 runs against the Panthers to get back on track in a big way behind a 15-11, 15-5 sweep at North Medford High.

“To see these kids respond the way that they have over the last few days of practice — and more so as a team and coming together — has been pretty cool to see,” said North Medford head coach Kerry Curtis.

“The frustration set in up at Willamette and Grants Pass,” he added of recent losses, “and that was another big part of this week is how we can’t fall apart as a team because people get frustrated. It was just about building it back up with them and letting them know that we believe in them and they’ve got to believe in themselves. Belief is a powerful thing.”

Fast starts can also be powerful, and the Black Tornado (10-4, 4-3 SWC) found that gear early in both games by building an 8-1 lead through two innings in the opener and going up 7-1 in that same span in what developed into a five-inning Game 2.

“I was so proud of our kids all day today with just everything they did at the plate,” said Curtis. “Defensively, we had a couple miscues — but that’s been pretty standard for us — but we hit the ball around the field and thankfully put up enough runs to win.”

For as impressive as it was to see North Medford start each game with such a flurry, equal credit needed to be paid to South Medford (5-8, 2-5) for clawing back and at least leaving some doubt in the outcomes Saturday.

In the first game, especially, the Panthers didn’t hang their heads and ultimately battled back with seven runs in the top of the third inning to tie the game at 8-all. The backbreaker for the Panthers came later when North Medford registered five runs in the sixth inning to create another sizable gap on the scoreboard.

In that fateful third inning, Keegan Painter got things going with a bases-loaded single to bring home Evan Rhoden and then Owen Leavens followed with an RBI single that got past freshman left fielder Merrick Jonasson and allowed two more runs to score as Leavens cruised into third base to make it 8-5.

Brad Love’s chopper up the middle plated Leavens to further close the gap and then Kaleb Long hit a towering flyball to left-center that dropped out of Johnson’s glove and allowed Love to score from first base. That brought an end to the pitching start for Colton Morgan, but the Panthers weren’t quite done and forged out a game-tying single by Rhoden against reliever Calvin Rayburn before the inning came to a halt.

“It feels like a comfortable lead when you’re not playing South, I guess,” Curtis said of his team’s lost 8-1 advantage. “But we always know that this is a big game. A lot of the kids know each other and everybody wants to win and the next thing you know we’re tied up at 8s again. It’s tough to let a seven-run lead slide, but we challenged our kids that now we’ve got to start over and, man, they just responded well. After South had their big seven-run inning, we got two right back and then five in the sixth.”

In the bottom of the third, North Medford reclaimed the lead when Ben Morgan scored on a wild pitch by South reliever Jake Lewis and then Kellen Willer supplied a sacrifice fly to bring home Frankie Rutigliano for a 10-8 cushion.

A two-run single by Easton Curtis highlighted the sixth-inning surge for the Tornado, which also included a pair of runners scoring when an attempt to nab Curtis stealing second base went awry when the throw from Long wasn’t corralled and skipped into center field to create a bases-clearing opportunity and eventual 15-9 lead.

Gannen Jones came through with a two-run single in the top of the seventh for the Panthers to make things interesting once again, but freshman reliever Cade Pettersen, who was also making his varsity debut with Johnson, was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam with a high swing-and-miss fastball to Long.

“Every player on our team contributed today, from the top to the bottom,” said Curtis. “In the first game, for sure, everybody got in that game and had an impact. It was good to see the kids work through that adversity.”

Rutigliano and the junior Curtis each had two hits and three runs scored for North, which saw Willer, Colton Morgan and Austin Warren also come through with two hits and two runs scored apiece.

For the Panthers, Long was 3-for-5 with two runs and one RBI, while Rhoden went 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. Chance Ryan, Jones, Leavens and Love each added two hits and scored at least one run apiece in the opener.

The nightcap wasn’t quite as dramatic as North used doubles by Rutigliano, Willer and Colton Morgan and an RBI single from Jake Payton to build a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

The second inning found more of the same as the Tornado took a 7-1 lead and this time didn’t see it fall away.

Rutigliano went 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs, while Jeremiah Robbins was 3-for-4 with one RBI and North got three RBIs apiece from Curtis and Dominic Daffron to pull away.

“I think we struck out only four times on the day,” said coach Curtis. “Something we had talked about in practice was just our approaches at the plate. Evan (Rhoden) and Tristan (Mallari) are both really good pitchers and the way we’ve been hitting the ball lately, it was concerning facing those two. But our kids made adjustments, they were seeing the ball and they were not swinging at bad pitches and were just making good contact.”

In Game 2 for the Panthers, Mallari and Rhoden each supplied RBI efforts but South was limited to five hits in a complete-game effort by Robbins, who struck out five and walked three.

“I’m proud of our group,” said coach Curtis. “We challenged them at the end of the game to keep it going, and to keep the same mentality and the same work ethic and same drive and passion that they had after Tuesday and carry it forward.”

FIRST GAME

South Medford 107 100 2 — 11 17 3

North Medford 622 005 x — 15 13 2

Rhoden, Lewis (3) and Long; C. Morgan, Rayburn (3), Baker (4), Pettersen (7) and Robbins. W — Baker. L — Rhoden. 2B — SM: Long, McQuillan, Ryan.

SECOND GAME

South Medford 012 02 — 5 5 1

North Medford 341 52 — 15 14 3

Mallari, Robertson (3) and Long; Robbins and Newberg. W — Robbins. L — Mallari. 2B — SM: Ryan; NM: C. Morgan, Willer, Rutigliano 2.

EAGLE POINT 4-0, CHURCHILL 2-4: At Eugene, Cruz Jimenez allowed five hits in a complete-game performance to help Eagle Point claim Game 1 of the Midwestern League doubleheader.

Collin Stockton went 2-for-3 and Brendan Rullamas drove in a run for the Eagles (9-5, 2-4 MWL), who scored three runs in the fourth inning during the opener.

Donovan Jackson of Churchill (6-7, 4-2) limited EP to three hits in Game 2.

FIRST GAME

Eagle Point 000 300 1 — 4 6 1

Churchill 001 010 0 — 2 5 2

Jimenez and McFall; Mikel, Emmons (7) and Bousquet. W — Jimenez. L — Mikel. 2B — C: Mikel.

SECOND GAME

Eagle Point 000 000 — 0 3 1

Churchill 200 02x — 4 7 0

Nugent, Isackson (5) and McFall; Jackson and Bousquet. W — Jackson. L — Nugent.

ORLAND 3-2, ASHLAND 1-10: At Orland, Calif., Jackson Rosenthal struck out six and allowed only two hits on the mound in Game 2 to lead Ashland to a nonleague split and snap a six-game losing skid.

Anthony Albano went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Freeman Rountree was 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs in the nightcap for the Grizzlies (3-7, 0-3 MWL).

Logan Trivette went the distance in Game 1 with seven strikeouts and six hits allowed. Rountree doubled and was later brought home by Keller Bloodworth to score Ashland’s lone run.

FIRST GAME

Ashland 000 100 0 — 1 4 1

Orland 000 012 x — 3 6 0

Trivette and Albano; Story, Mackenzie (5) and Schager. W — Mackenzie. L — Trivette. 2B — A: Rountree.

SECOND GAME

Ashland 302 030 2 — 10 7 3

Orland 000 100 1 — 2 2 2

Rosenthal, Rountree (7) and Albano; Ovard, McNary (3), Alexander (3), L. Schager (5), Moreci (7) and J. Schager. W — Rosenthal. L — Ovard. 2B — A: Bloodworth, Trivette, Rountree; O: L. Schager.