Chukars advance to Championship
Chukars play in championship game today at 1 p.m.

By Matthew Neal
Argus Observer
Sunday, March 23, 2008 3:21 AM PDT

Chukar first baseman Jon Keller gloves the ball just ahead of an Olympic baserunner to complete the 4-3 double play, after second baseman Cameron Edman (center) makes the tag on Olympic’s Danny Hennigs.

Ontario - The Treasure Valley Community College baseball team shutout, shutdown and just plain shut up Olympic Community College with an authoritative 13-0 statement.

The Ranger’s Colby Robinson started off hot and cycled through three batters in the first, but found himself in trouble in the next frame as he nailed Chukar Cameron Edman on the first pitch and gave him first base.

Michael Tevlin stepped to the plate next and reached on a single. During  Dan Welch’s at bat, a wild pitch by Robinson allowed Edman to steal home to put the Chuks on the scorecard. Welch then took a walk.

Perry Wilkinson then tapped a 1-0 fastball for a triple and two RBIs to put the Chukars up by three. After Dan Harrington struck out and Jay C. Shepherd grounded out to second base, Christen Jolley doubled into left field to score Wilkinson making it 4-0.

Olympic finally escaped the inning by striking out Josh Kalalau but the tone of the game had been set and the outcome did not bode well for the Rangers.

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  The Chukars turned a double play in the bottom of the second, and then catcher Dan Welch caught Ranger Ryan Huff attempting to steal second and threw him out to end the inning.

  The top of the third had Keller take a base on balls followed by second baseman Cameron Edman drilling the first pitch he saw. He sent a long drive over the fence in left field for a two-run home run for and 6-0 lead.

  For the next three innings, the Chuks put up another seven runs while shutting down the Ranger’s offense completely. They won the game 13-0.

  Adam Jung earned the win for TVCC.

  In earlier action, The Chukars beat Linn Benton 3-5 in game six of the tournament to give them a tournament record of 3-1.

“I don’t think we played all that well in the game against Linn Benton, but I think we got an excellent pitching performance from JT Brodrick,” TVCC head coach Rick Baumann said.

The Chuks jumped ahead early with three in the first inning with runs courtesy of Christen Jolley, Jon Keller, and Edman. They went on to add two more, one each in the fourth and eighth innings while allowing only three from Linn Benton.

  “We’ve won three out of four and I’m real happy with the competition in the tournament. We’re playing pre-league so this is really good for us.”

 TVCC had freshman right hander JT Brodrick at the helm during the win where he had 12 strikeouts, three walks, six hits and three runs.

  “I think that they kept us off balance most of the game,” Baumann said. “It was a matter of the ball rolling past the shortstop and their catcher throwing the ball into the bullpen, that was really the difference, then again, we didn’t make any mistakes that really hurt us and any mistakes we did make, Brodrick pitched us out of.”

TVCC will take on Clackamas today at 1 p.m. in the Championship game of the Holiday Inn Baseball Classic.