Boulder Creek sweeps Monday double header
Marc Buckhout ~ Managing Editor ~ 03/24/2010

The games aren’t worth power points, but don’t tell the Boulder Creek High School baseball team that they don’t mean anything.
Coach Joe McDonald and the Jaguars aren’t looking at the games in the Coach Bob Invitational Tournament as simple exhibitions to sharpen their skills for Northwest Region competition.
Instead the team from Anthem, which went 18-19 a season ago, is looking to establish a mindset that they’re never out of a game.
Two days after earning a come-from-behind win over San Elizario High School, from Texas, an 11-10 thriller in the seventh inning, the Jaguars found themselves trailing in the first game of a double header Monday.
Down five heading to the bottom of the seventh inning the Jaguars rallied to send the game to extra inning. After watching Legacy High School, out of Colorado, take a lead in the ninth inning Boulder Creek rallied again to pull out a 12-11 extra-inning win, their second comeback in as many games.
“We’re playing as a team,” McDonald said. “We’ve shown a lot of character in coming back from some big deficits.”
Monday’s second game of the double header continued a trend that has been a staple for the Jaguars success this season, scoring runs in bunches.
Against West Salem High School from Oregon the Jaguars jumped the visiting squad, chasing starting pitcher Troy Sherwood before the southpaw could even record an out. By the time the Titans got out of the inning they were already trailing 4-0, in what would become a 10-0 run-rule game after five innings.
Lead-off man Jonny Pawling got things started with a single and shortstop Bryce Eisenbart drove him home with a double that opened the floodgates. Sherwood, battling his control, then proceeded to allow three straight Boulder Creek hitters to reach base without so much as a hit.
The early offense was put to good use by junior Andrew Parrott who cruised through the front four innings, allowing only two hits in the game’s early going.
“That was Andrew’s best outing of the season,” McDonald said of his junior’s three-hit shutout. “He kept the ball down and pounded the strike zone. We also played good defense behind him.”
The highlight of the fourth inning was Parrott’s battery mate, Pawling, who showed off his arm. The catcher threw out a runner attempting to steal with nobody out and then threw behind a runner at first for a pickoff to end the frame.
In the fifth the Titans ran themselves out of a potential rally again, this time seeing their leadoff man picked off of second base.
The Titans still managed to get a pair of runners on base before Parrott ended the threat with a strikeout and then by fielding a sharply hit comebacker to end the inning, while keeping the shutout intact.
“I felt pretty good,” he said. “I was hitting my spots with my fastball and getting my curve ball over for strikes. I got to feeling pretty comfortable.”
Parrott, who earned his first victory of the season, said the team’s positive outlook is one of the reasons for its 11-5 record so far this season.
“Everybody is always encouraging one and other,” he said. “We don’t get down. We stay confident and focused whether we’re up by five or whether we’re down by five. We always try to have the same intensity.”
McDonald said the offense also has been pretty consistent.
“It’s not just any one person. When you’re averaging just under 10 runs a game you’re getting contributions from a lot of people. Whoever we have in the lineup we expect a strong contribution.”
Showing their propensity for the big inning the Jaguars put together five consecutive hits to start the third inning, one in which they would score three runs. They then would finish off the game in the fifth inning with three more runs, an inning which included three hits as well as three walks.
Boulder Creek continues tournament play throughout the week. On Tuesday they played Lewis Palmer out of Colorado (results unavailable at press time). Today they face Summit, Oregon in a 3 p.m. matchup. The tournament continues through Monday before the team from Anthem resumes Northwest Region play with a Tuesday matchup in Glendale against the Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions.
For information on the team’s upcoming games go to jagsbaseball.com.