Cole Stofflet pitches in the third inning for the Medford Mustangs Friday against the Grants Pass Nuggets.

Weary legs after playing four games in the last four nights weren’t enough to trip up the Medford Mustangs on Friday night, albeit after an unusually sluggish start at Lithia & Driveway Fields.

It was a slow enough start that Medford (3-1) lagged behind for nearly the entirety of a 9-8 win over the Grants Pass Nuggets, trailing 7-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Nuggets found a gold rush at the plate by taking a 4-0 lead in the opening inning off four hits and threatened to blow out the Mustangs after adding two more runs in the top of the fourth inning when Alijah Zaher hit an RBI double and was later walked in.

And part of that slow start was that the Mustangs expected a continuation of Wednesday’s 13-7 victory — featuring home runs from Triston Wallace and Jackson Rosenthal.

“They came out hot,” said Davis Carr. “We were just expecting them to roll over and we were a little lackadaisical there to begin with. They were hitting the ball around and we just weren’t attacking fastballs early in the count, getting ourselves into bad counts. But then, once we turned it around, we really just had all the momentum there.”

Carr was also the one that sparked that momentum, bombing a three-run triple into the right field gap to bring the score into a manageable 7-4 deficit.

Those runs were bookended between an RBI bunt by Dominic Daffron to load the bases and a sacrifice fly by Grady Sickler to bring Carr home to close the five-run inning.

“I just got in there for my spot with the bases loaded,” Carr said about his hit. “Daffron came up with a clutch bunt, I knew I had to do something big so I hunted the fastball and he gave one to me and from there, we had all the momentum and just battled back.”

Rosenthal then reeled in the Nuggets, shooting the right field gap with a two-run triple to make it at 7-all and put the pressure on Grants Pass.

Mustangs head coach John King was glad to see his team snap out of the slow start and overcome it by stringing together the timely hits.

Freeman Rountree led the team with two hits, while seven other Mustangs connected for a hit after only having one basehit in the first three innings.

“They did a good job shutting us out,” said King. “They had the same guy on the mound until the fifth inning when we had already seen him two or three times. We hit the ball hard that inning and put some pressure on the pitcher.”

With the hits coming, Medford also battened down the hatches on defense, only allowing one run for the rest of the game.

In the first four innings, the Mustangs were not as efficient with the ball and left open a few gaps in the outfield to give the Nuggets time to operate.

More intentionality and direction on defense had the Grants Pass’ offense looking for fool’s gold. 

“We actually fielded the ground balls,” said King. “We filled it up and threw them to get people out instead of kicking it around a little bit.”

Another player that was important in the comeback was Crater grad Jimmy Morgan, who took over in the sixth inning as the catcher.

Morgan hit a single in the bottom of the seventh inning to set up courtesy runner Easton Curtis to steal two bases before Daffron hit a bunt to bring Curtis home for one of his two runs to tie the score at 8-all.

“We expect him to come in and expect him to hit the baseball,” King said about Morgan. “He does a good job back behind the plate. We had some balls in the dirt and he did a good job sticking it and holding them there.”

North Medford grad Kellen Willer completed the comeback with a sacrifice fly to right field to bring Wallace home for the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The first baseman was relieved to not only give Ryan Hill some wiggle room in the final inning, but he felt that it was the final blow to the Nuggets’ resolve.

“It was just a big relief for everyone,” said Willer. “I knew immediately when we got that lead, I could feel a sense of relief just from everyone. I could see everyone was a little more loose and more nimble.”

With the late-game heroics, Willer hopes that Medford learns the lesson of respecting their opponent and knowing that each game can take different forms.

Like Carr, he pointed to their attitudes before the game, believing that there is a delicate line to be toed.

“We came in here with cockiness instead of confidence,” said Willer. “They gave us their best and we finally put the pedal to the metal and we had to score one run after another after giving up seven runs in the first few innings.”

Grants Pass 410 200 100 — 8 11 2

Medford 000 502 11x — 9 9 3

Kissel, Elzy (5), Fischer (7) and Carnes; Stofflet, Knips (4), Hill (7) and Havey, Morgan (6). W — Hill. L — Fischer. 2B — GP: Kissel, Bloodworth. 3B — GP: Carnes, Mendes; Med: Carr, Rosenthal.