Medford maintains slim Area 4 lead heading into final two American Legion AAA doubleheaders against Central Oregon

It’s certainly not the way the Medford Mustangs hoped to enter their final stretch of the regular season, but the gold standard that iron sharpens iron might be the best way to look at a sudden two-game losing skid entering Saturday’s first of two final twin bills with Central Oregon.

Medford earned its 15th straight victory in the opening game of Wednesday’s doubleheader with the Eugene Challengers in dramatic fashion as Jackson Rosenthal supplied a walk-off winner for a 10-9 triumph at Harry & David Field.

The Mustangs could have gone a long way toward securing an Area 4 championship with a win in the nightcap, but the Challengers had other ideas and used a string of nine unanswered runs to force a split with a 12-4 win in Game 2.

On the heels of that loss, Medford suffered its first consecutive defeat this entire summer Thursday night in a second meeting this week against visiting Lewiston of Idaho, which scored four times in the top of the ninth inning to earn a 9-5, extra-inning win at Harry & David Field.

Lewiston has been a long-time fixture in the American Legion AAA Northwest Regionals, so the quality of opponent certainly was a factor Thursday in a slugfest that saw the teams combine for 22 hits but Medford ultimately come undone behind an uncharacteristic four errors in the field.

The Mustangs (34-5, 9-3 Area 4) still carry a two-game lead over Roseburg Dr. Stewart’s (9-7 Area 4) for first place in the conference standings and three-game lead over the Central Oregon SunWest Generals (6-6 Area 4).

Medford and Central Oregon will play a Saturday doubleheader in Redmond, then close out the regular season Monday with another 5 p.m. twin bill at Harry & David Field.

Staking claim to the Nos. 1 or 2 spots means an automatic berth in the upcoming state tournament in Portland — set July 26-30 at the University of Portland’s Joe Etzel Field — and an ability to skip the play-in round Tuesday between the No. 3-seeded teams out of Area 3 and Area 4.

In a departure from previous years, when Area 4 teams held a majority of the eight spots in the state tourney, this year’s tournament features the Nos. 1 and 2 teams from each of the state’s three zones, the lone play-in winner between No. 3 teams and the tournament host Portland Barbers.

Area 4 has enjoyed tournament host status for several years in Eugene, Roseburg and Klamath Falls to help generate extra opportunities for a zone that also has produced nine of the last 10 state champions, including six straight by the Mustangs from 2014-2019 and another in 2022.

Eugene is the reigning state champion after coming up short to the Portland Barbers in 2023, and had been viewed as one of the favorites coming into this season.

Medford posted a dominant sweep of the Challengers Monday in Eugene, then kept up its winning ways with a 6-5 win over Lewiston Tuesday and the opening game Wednesday.

Kicking things off toward Wednesday’s opening win over the Challengers was a four-run outburst in the first inning that was highlighted by a two-run double by Keegan Painter.

The Mustangs tacked on four more runs in the third inning to build an 8-1 advantage, then saw Eugene battle back and tie the game at 9-all with an RBI single by Eli Crist.

Jake Lewis was able to withstand an ensuing error that put the go-ahead run on third base and loaded the bases by notching an inning-ending strikeout of Jalen Riddle.

Given a chance to close out Eugene in the bottom of the seventh, the Mustangs showed the moxie that has helped them earn a host of late-inning victories already this summer by producing a two-out rally that started with a walk drawn by Brady Patterson and was followed by a double to right field by Cade Pettersen.

The Challengers opted to intentionally walk leadoff hitter Easton Curtis to load the bases and set up a force play, but Rosenthal’s high bounder up the middle could only be gathered in by second baseman Braden Corgain as Patterson scooted home with the winning run.

Curtis went 4-for-4 with one run and one RBI in the win, while Rosenthal was 2-for-5 with one run and one RBI, Painter posted three RBIs and Medford got two hits apiece from Keller Bloodworth, Sean McFall and Pettersen.

In the Game 2 loss, Curtis went 2-for-3 with three runs, Rosenthal was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Grady Sickler was 2-for-3 with one RBI.

Back on the field for their sixth game in four days, the Mustangs held their own through five innings before the Lewis Clark Twins countered with three runs in the top of the sixth inning to tie the contest at 5-all and set up an extra-inning marathon that saw their rally completed in the ninth.

Three of the Idaho program’s nine runs were unearned.

Kellen Willer went 2-for-4 with two runs and Dominic Daffron was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Tristan Mallari also drove in a pair of runs for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs will also host an alumni game gathering at 2 p.m. Sunday at North Medford High School.

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