Former South Medford and Rogues star Cameron Sewell returns home as driving force for Humboldt Crabs

If this summer has shown anything in regards to the Medford Rogues, it’s that when the lights come on, the hometown crew knows just how to soak up the spotlight at Harry & David Field.

Entering their most pivotal stretch of the Pacific Empire League season, the Rogues rallied for their 12th comeback victory of the season Sunday to sweep a series with the Fresno A’s and lift Medford to its ninth win in 10 games.

The Rogues trailed 5-3 through five innings before scoring four unanswered runs to take the series finale, 7-5, only two nights after rallying from a 6-3 deficit to the A’s in the same scenario.

Medford (26-9, 4-2 PEL) will take a three-game winning streak into Tuesday’s opening game of a three-game series against the Humboldt Crabs (24-4, 8-4 PEL). That will be part of a six-game homestand this week that includes three games with the Lincoln Potters (22-5, 6-4) from Friday-Sunday before hitting the road to take on the league-leading Healdsburg Prune Packers (21-2, 10-2).

Momentum would seem to be in favor of the Rogues entering their series with Humboldt, however, the Crabs own their own five-game winning streak and have also gone 9-1 in their last 10 outings.

The series features a return home for former South Medford star Cameron Sewell, who was a central figure for the Medford Rogues in 2023 and has piloted the Crabs to a fantastic start this summer.

Sewell leads Humboldt in batting average (.423) and home runs (7), and ranks second on the team in runs (28) and RBIs (30). He’s coming off a series sweep of the Solano Mudcats in which Sewell went 7-for-11 with seven runs and five RBIs and launched two homers.

This past season at Sacramento State, Sewell hit .251 with 33 runs, 37 RBIs and six home runs. The 6-foot, 170-pound sophomore infielder started 50 of his 57 games played for the Hornets (32-26).

In 2023, Sewell led the Rogues with a .442 batting average to go with 47 runs and 38 RBIs in 28 games played.

A few local products were at the head of Medford’s come-from-behind win Sunday night, with Troy Osborne of Grants Pass following a single by Christopher Ortiz to lead off the sixth inning. Trevor Smith followed with a one-out single, and Medford’s Frankie Rutigliano evened up the score at 5-all with an RBI single of his own.

After a pitching change, Medford’s Aiden Horsley drew a walk to set the stage for a fielder’s choice RBI effort from Travis Finney to give the Rogues their first lead of the night.

Garret Barto belted a leadoff home run in the seventh to supply an insurance run.

Samuel Janik earned the win in relief after taking over in the sixth inning for starter Nicho Crowley, starting a string of four scoreless innings that included two hitless frames from Noah Loew (four strikeouts, one walk) and a final perfect inning from Central Point’s Caleb Randolph.

Rutigliano finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs to raise his summer batting average to .369, with 20 runs and 23 RBIs overall — the latter ranking third on the team behind Ryan Severns (.384, 29 runs, 26 RBIs) and Orlando Cobarrubias (.233, 26 runs, 24 RBIs).

Osborne was 3-for-3 with two runs and one RBI on Sunday, moving to 12 runs and 12 RBIs this summer with a .363 batting average, while Ortiz and Smith each had two hits and scored twice and Horsley was 1-for-2 with one RBI.

Tickets for upcoming Medford Rogues games can be purchased at medfordrogues.com

Reach sports editor Kris Henry at kris.henry@rv-times.com or 458-488-2035