Photo by Miles Vance: Canby shortstop Hayden Davis tries to make a play during his team's 2-1 win over La Salle at Canby High School on Tuesday, May 13.

Canby stays hot, beats La Salle 2-1 for big league win

The Cougars got it done.

The Canby baseball team, unbeaten in the Northwest Oregon Conference, faced similarly unbeaten La Salle on Tuesday, May 13 — and the Cougars got it done.

Canby got a key two-run single from senior Colby Herren in the first inning and a shutdown pitching performance from junior Jack Brauckmiller to power past La Salle 2-1 at Canby High School.

“We came out confident,” said Herren, who went 1 for 3 at the plate with two RBIs. “We knew we had to win today. It was a big win.”

“It took a lot of mental toughness, but I felt great out here,” said Brauckmiller, who threw seven innings and allowed just one unearned run on two hits and no walks while striking out 10. “It’s just my teammates. I have so much trust in them.”

“We play as a team. We do it all, whether it’s our gloves in the field or our (bats),” added senior shortstop Hayden Davis, who walked twice and scored once in the win. “We started off strong today, but we’ve just got to keep at it the rest of the game.”

With the win, the second-ranked Cougars’ 11th straight, Canby improved to 11-0 in NWOC play and 18-3 overall. Next up, the Cougars play La Salle at 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, at La Salle High School.

The No. 5 Falcons, meanwhile, saw their 13-game winning streak snapped and fell to 10-1 in conference play and 17-5 overall. La Salle was led by junior Roscoe Mithoefer (he went 1 for 3 at the plate with one run scored) and senior pitcher Max Bishop (he threw five innings and allowed two unearned runs on two hits and four walks while striking out four).

Brauckmiller kept La Salle off the scoreboard for the game’s first five innings – in that span, he allowed just two baserunners and one hit while striking out nine – and that was all the room the Cougars’ offense needed.

In the bottom of the first inning, Davis led off with a walk, Brauckmiller reached base on an error, and with two outs, Herren launched a two-strike single into right field to plate both Davis and senior courtesy runner Benjamin Edwards for a 2-0 lead.

“I didn’t want to strike out or anything so I knew I had to hit it,” Herren said. “I just tried to get the barrel on it and as soon as I saw it go over his head, it was just excitement.”

Brauckmiller was perfect in the first, third and fourth frames, and stranded single runners in the second and fifth before finally allowing one unearned run in the seventh. There, Mithoefer hit a one-out double down the left field line, then scored on an error with two outs before Brauckmiller ended the contest with his 10th strikeout.

“Getting back out here, I had a lot of people help me and it paid off,” Brauckmiller said. “I’m just trying to trust myself and my mechanics.”