Churchill clubs its way to title game.

Byline: Joe Zavala For the Register-Guard

ASHLAND - The best baseball season in Churchill history just got better.

The Lancers scored five runs in the first inning then held off a furious comeback attempt to beat Ashland 10-6 in the semifinals of the OSAA Class 5A state baseball tournament Tuesday at North Mountain Park.

Antony Kreitz went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple and three RBIs, and Justin Hoffman went 4-for-5 with two RBIs as the sixth-ranked Lancers (21-7) advanced to play No. 3 Crater in Saturday's state championship game at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer.

Churchill becomes the first Midwestern League team to play for a state title since North Bend in 1991. South Eugene was the last MWL team to win a state title, finishing as co-champions in 1962.

"I'm still soaking it in," Churchill coach Erik Hoberg said. "We've been waiting a long time for this. For this group of kids, who have worked so hard for the past four years, these seniors, it's just an incredible feeling and I'm so proud of them and so happy for what they've accomplished up to this point."

Fresh off the first quarterfinal win in school history, the Lancers again played like a team accustomed to the pressure - especially at the plate. They had seven hits in the first inning, including a two-run double by starting pitcher Andrew Schumacher. More impressive, they did it against Ashland ace Gus Gaviglio, who entered the game with a sub-1.40 ERA.

Ashland stormed back with a four-run, two-out rally in the third that cut the lead to 6-5. The surge included the Grizzlies' first two home runs of the season - first a solo shot by Justin Meza, and a three-run homer by Owen Baldrica. Churchill held on, though, blanking Ashland over the next three innings and tacking on three insurance runs in the sixth and another in the seventh.

"We were just like, `We gotta score more runs, we gotta get a bigger lead and not let them think that they can come back and beat us,' ' Kreitz said.

Meza went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Gaviglio went 3-for-4 with one RBI to lead Ashland (18-11), which lost for the first time since being swept by Crater on May 1.

Schumacher picked up the win despite giving up seven hits and five earned runs in three innings. Darrell Hunter shut down Ashland over the last four innings, holding the Grizzlies to one run on four hits.

Churchill's powerful lineup continued its tear through the state playoffs. In their three-game run, the Lancers have scored a combined 29 runs against top-ranked Sherwood, No. 2-ranked Summit and the unranked Grizzlies. Churchill was 19-for-37 with five extra-base hits at the plate against Ashland, a team that surrendered just eight runs in its previous eight games combined.

Gaviglio gave up 17 of those hits in six innings.

"Sometimes you just play a better team," he said. "That first inning, I don't know what was going on because I was keeping my curve ball low, hitting my spots."

Against the Lancers, it didn't matter.

Darrell Hunter started the first-inning onslaught with a single. After Peter Straka's sacrifice bunt, Churchill pounded out four straight hits, capped by Drew Irsfled's RBI double off the wall in left-center.

Ashland plated one in the bottom of the inning, but the Lancers got it back in the second on Hoffman's RBI single to left.

One strike away from going down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the third, Ashland made a game of it. First, Meza turned on Schumacher's 0-2 delivery and drove it over the wall in left. Then, after consecutive singles by Gaviglio and Hayden Miller, Baldrica crushed the second bomb of the inning.

Ashland couldn't ride the momentum shift all the way back, however, stranding the tying run on base in both the fourth and the fifth before Churchill finally got back to business in the sixth. That's when Hunter and Kreitz both doubled, Hoffman and Matt Myrmo singled, and the Lancers suddenly were up four again at 9-5.

"I really thought we were going to go all the way," Ashland coach Don Senestraro said. "We were on such a roll, we came back, it was 6-5. I thought, `We got these guys.' We weren't here thinking that we were the Cinderella kids. We thought we deserved to be here. They're very disappointed."

Kreitz's RBI triple made it 10-5 in the sixth, but it turned out Churchill didn't need any more insurance.

The Lancers celebrated briefly after the final out before turning their attention to Crater, a team that also scored in bunches against the Grizzlies this season. The Comets, who also play in the Southern Sky Conference, swept the season series against Ashland, winning the four games by a combined score of 34-14.

"Obviously, it's satisfying to win this game and to make it to the state championship game," Hoberg said, "but for us, we've had one goal all year. It was just, let's get ourselves prepared and play good baseball at the end. It always comes down to who's playing good baseball at the end."

Class 3A state playoffs

Burns 13, Glide 1: Logan Garner went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Sean Wensek was 3-for-5 with two RBIs as the Hilanders defeated the Wildcats.

Junior Hernandez had a hit and scored Glide's only run. Burns held the Wildcats to four hits.

Softball 

Class 4A state playoffs

Scappoose 7, South Umpqua 6: The Indians edged the Lancers with an eighth-inning victory.

Kaila Johnson was 3-for-3 with two RBIs for South Umpqua, and Brittany Bice was 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Semifinals

TUESDAY'S RESULTS

Churchill 10, Ashland 6

Crater 9, Pendleton 2

Finals

SATURDAY'S GAME

Churchill vs. Crater, at Volcanoes Stadium, Keizer

CLASS 5A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Churchill vs. Crater, Saturday at Volcanoes Stadium, Keizer, 1:30 p.m. (time subject to change; the OSAA will make the final determination today)