Juneau-Douglas’ Olin Rawson threw a four hitter and Christian Ludeman recorded two doubles as the Crimson Bears edged Thunder Mountain 7-3 on Tuesday night at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park.
Rawson pitched all seven innings — retiring the side in order twice — to lead the Crimson Bears to their second conference win over the Falcons this season. While the sophomore slinger rarely struck out batters, he got the Falcons to hit into numerous groundouts and pop outs. With the win, JDHS improves to 5-1 in conference, while TMHS falls to 1-2.
“I felt great,” Rawson said after the game. “I was confident our team had my back and I think we played good today.”
It was the sophomore’s third win on the mound against Thunder Mountain this season, having earned 9-0 and 2-1 victories in his past two outings. The first game was played during preseason and did not count as a conference game.
“It’s huge when you have someone that’s going to control the game as a pitcher,” JDHS coach Luke Adams said. “But all around, he also has the confidence in the players around him that if they put it in play, they’re going to hold the fort down and they did that tonight as well.”
Thunder Mountain High School junior Chase Foster tags out Juneau-Douglas freshman Gaby Soto during the first inning of their Southeast Conference game on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (Courtesy Photo | Heather Holt)
The Crimson Bears’ big bats made several powerful hits in the first three innings. Ludeman hit a double down the left-field line to score Gaby Soto and and Brock McCormick in the first, and McCormick scored the first of three runs in the third after hitting a leadoff triple.
“I think our whole team did well hitting, especially towards the beginning of the game,” Rawson said. “We were fired up pretty much the whole game.”
Unlike the Crimson Bears, the Falcons made numerous pitching changes throughout the game. Sophomore Josh Carte replaced starter Bryson Echiverri in the second inning, and Oliver Mendoza took over on the mound for Carte in the top of the fourth. After facing eight batters in a long fourth inning, Mendoza and his defense zipped through the following two innings, retiring six batters in a row. Logan Lesmann took over in the seventh and pitched the final inning.
Echiverri tripled and scored the Falcons’ first run of the game in the sixth, and Chris San Nicolas and Chase Foster added two more runs in the seventh.
“We tried to take everything yard and we didn’t actually just let him bring the heat and just meet him in the middle,” San Nicolas said.
Thunder Mountain plays Ketchikan, Sitka and Petersburg over the next three weeks. The Falcons host the Kings for varsity games on Friday at 4 and 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. at Adair-Kennedy. Thunder Mountain plays on the road the following two weeks in Sitka and Petersburg.
JDHS swept a three-game series against Petersburg last weekend and has a bye this weekend. The Crimson Bears defeated the Vikings 12-2 last Friday and won 6-3 and 17-11 on Saturday. The latter game went three extra innings after the two sides were tied at 8-8 after the seventh.
“We definitely have a pretty young team this year but guys are working hard, especially in the gym and (at) practice everyday,” Rawson said. “I think we have a pretty solid team this year.”
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
