West Linn senior starting pitcher Drake Gabel threw a gem as the Lions beat Lake Oswego 6-0 on Friday night at Lake Oswego High School.
With Friday’s result, West Linn (16-5, 8-1 league) took sole possession of second place on the Three Rivers League standings and now only trails Lakeridge (18-2, 9-0 league) by one game. West Linn won the season series against Lake Oswego 2-1.
“Every win in the league is super big just because in the TRL, you have so many good teams and it’s so tight,” Gabel said. “Even that loss on Tuesday hurt us, but we came back Wednesday and got the win, and we came out hot. Then today, I loved how our guys competed and played small ball. We were able to bunt the ball, and then that opens up, like, runners on base and runners in scoring position. We came through today.”
Gabel — a Seattle University commit — allowed zero runs on five hits over six shutout innings and totaled six strikeouts and two walks to take the win.
“Whenever I go out there, my main goal is to throw strikes and let my defense (do its thing),” Gabel said. “I know I have a great defense behind me. My goal is to let them make plays, and they were making plays today, and we were hitting the ball today. It just worked out.”
West Linn head coach Joe Monahan said Gabel’s performance Friday was “fantastic.”
“You know, all three starters are really No. 1 starters. They’re all extremely good. They’re all Division I commits,” the Lions coach said. “It’s fantastic having a guy like Drake, who anchored center field Tuesday and Wednesday and throws well Friday. Last year, in the Three Rivers League, he didn’t give up a hit in 17 innings as a closer, and he was an all-state pitcher. It’s a real benefit.”
West Linn scored two runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings.
Gabel knocked an RBI triple to center field in the sixth inning, and Lions sophomore designated hitter Baron Naone hit an RBI double to left field in the third inning.
“One of our biggest focuses is discipline. In every aspect of the game, we want to be disciplined,” Monahan said. “We don’t want to have easy outs. We want to make sure we’re grinding pitchers, going four to six pitches every at-bat, and really try to get into their bullpen. We scrapped a couple of runs early and put the pressure on them.”
Gabel believes this year’s West Linn team has a good shot to repeat as Class 6A state champion.
“I think this squad, no doubt, is good enough to win a state title again,” he said. “We got a lot of depth at pitching. In our lineup, we have a couple of young guys this year, but they can still hit. They’re looking like they’re ready. They have confidence. I feel like getting these big wins is big for our team, for our confidence.”
The Lions will play Lakeridge in a three-game series next week and then will wrap up the regular season with a three-game series against Oregon City.
“They’re an extremely good ball club. They have tremendous pitching. Their No. 1 and No. 2 starters are outstanding,” Monahan said of the upcoming series against Lakeridge. “It’s going to be a battle. Those games usually come down to one or two plays that are made or missed. It will be another battle like this week. Our league is tough, and that’s why our league does so well when we get into the playoffs.”
Lake Oswego (18-3, 7-2 TRL) had its best chance to score runs in the fourth inning. The Lakers knocked three singles to load the bases.
However, with two outs, junior designated hitter Finley Smith grounded into a fielder’s choice, and the Lions got the putout at second base to end the inning and leave the Lakers’ runners stranded.
“I think the key to that is, again, you have to stay with your process. Sometimes, they’re high school kids and they want to have the outcome before the process. For us, we just didn’t make those adjustments,” said Lake Oswego coach Jake Anders. “He’s a good pitcher. I mean, all three of their guys are Division I guys. You go Oregon, Oregon State, and then Seattle U. They’re good. That’s the thing. If they’re good, then you’ve got to be on your process and on your game plan at the dish. We barreled some balls. We had a chance to score some runs, and you’ve got to have timely hitting. When you’re trying to score runs with one or two outs, you’ve got to have timely hitting. We just didn’t have the timely hits today.”
Lake Oswego committed three errors, one of which led directly to West Linn scoring a run. In the third inning, an errant throw to third base allowed Lions junior shortstop Mitchell Rowe to score.
“For us, early on in the game when we threw the ball away on the bunt, and then we turn around and didn’t cover third base on a bunt, that kind of changed the momentum,” Anders said. “Gave them one early run, and then it changed it to where they had guys on second and third, and then they got another base hit. You just can’t give up extra outs to good teams.”
Lakers junior starting pitcher Sam Trojan took the loss. Trojan went three-plus innings, allowed three runs on two hits, and he had four strikeouts and three walks.
“Sam’s our starting catcher. We’ve been working him out in the bullpen to be in a bit of a closer role. We went through four or five pitchers on Wednesday, so you’re kind of putting guys into roles that they really haven’t been in before,” Anders said. “Sam did a good job of battling. He was pitching really well until those two events, and then we got him on a pitch count. We don’t want to run his pitches, so we knew he was only going to be pitching for x amount of pitches. He got to that pitch count, and then we took him out.”
Lake Oswego will face Tualatin for a three-game series next week before closing the regular season with a three-game series against crosstown rival Lakeridge.
“We don’t look ahead to our opponents. Our league, if you look ahead in our league, you’re stupid because every single team can beat you,” Anders said of Lake Oswego’s upcoming games. “Our next day is practice on Sunday, and then we’ve got to be ready to play Tuesday against a really good Tualatin team.”
