Medford Mustangs (Kris Henry / Rogue Valley Times)

Medford sweeps Central Oregon to clinch No. 1 seed, automatic berth in American Legion AAA state tournament

Capitalizing on their moments to shine, the Medford Mustangs were able to clinch the Area 4 championship and an automatic berth in the upcoming American Legion AAA state tournament with a pair of wins Saturday night in Redmond.

Despite being outhit by the host Central Oregon SunWest Generals, the Mustangs made the most of their opportunities to sweep the doubleheader with a 6-5 triumph in eight innings before closing strong for a 5-2 victory.

Medford improved to 36-5 overall and 11-3 in Area 4 play, well ahead of second-place Roseburg (9-7 Area 4) and third-place Central Oregon (6-8 Area 4) with two games remaining. The Mustangs and Generals will close the regular season Monday with a 5 p.m. twin bill at Harry & David Field.

Medford was coming off its first consecutive losses all summer and would not be denied Saturday, breaking a 5-all tie in the top of the eighth inning with a two-out rally that saw Keegan Painter walk and score moments later from first base on an RBI single to the right-center gap by Brady Patterson.

Jake Lewis got two quick outs in the bottom of the eighth before Central Oregon was able to generate a single by McCovey Williams to keep hope alive for the Generals. As soon as that door opened, however, Lewis closed it emphatically with a game-ending strikeout of Camden Hartlaub to nail down the extra-inning victory.

Lewis was able to pick up the victory in relief of starter Dominic Daffron, who pitched to contact as normal but saw Central Oregon keep finding holes for 11 of its 12 hits in his 6 ⅔ innings.

Medford countered with seven hits, with Jackson Rosenthal and Sean McFall leading the effort by each going 2-for-4 with one RBI. McFall also scored twice, while Patterson finished with two RBIs.

The nightcap was played similarly close to the vest, with Medford breaking a 1-all tie with one run in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to create a cushion in support of strong pitching effort by Freeman Rountree.

Rountree allowed two runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks before giving way to Lewis, who got the final out of the seventh inning to strand a runner at third base.

Rosenthal’s leadoff home run in the fourth inning provided the game’s first run — and his second round-tripper of the summer — but the Generals were able to answer with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

Rosenthal then scored the go-ahead run in the sixth after drawing a leadoff walk and then getting a little help from his teammates, who generated a sacrifice bunt (Keller Bloodworth), fielder’s choice (McFall) and RBI groundout (Tristan Mallari) to etch his turn around the bases.

In the seventh inning, a one-out single by Patterson, ensuing double by Cade Pettersen and a walk to Easton Curtis loaded the bases for Rosenthal. An error on Rosenthal’s grounder allowed two runs to score, and Bloodworth supplied a third run with a fielder’s choice RBI.

Central Oregon again held the advantage in hits, 8-4, but suffered the same fate as the opener with runners left on base. The Generals stranded 10 in the opener, and eight more in Game 2.

In contrast, Medford left six on base in Game 1, and five in the nightcap.

The Mustangs will next host an alumni game gathering at 2 p.m. Sunday at Harry & David Field.

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