JOHN DAY — The Grant Union baseball team tallied a 1-2 record during the first half of their six-game homestand to open the season.

The Prospectors won convincingly in their first contest and fell just short in their last two outings.

The first game of the 2022 took season took place on Thursday, March 17, and saw the Pros flex their muscles as they defeated the Umatilla Vikings 15-1 in five innings.

Parker Neault pitched all five innings, recording 12 strikeouts while only surrendering two hits. Neault was also efficient at the plate, going 3-4 with a whopping five RBIs.

Riddick Hutchinson went 2-3 with four RBIs while Mason Morris finished 2-3 with an RBI and three runs scored.

“It was nice to start the season off with a win,” head coach RC Huerta said. “It kind of gave us some good mojo headed into the next couple games, I think.”

Huerta also highlighted his team’s ability to have a short memory and move on to the next play and communicate with one another. “Those are some of the positive things I saw.”

The Prospectors came up just short in their second game on Friday, March 18, falling to the 5A Crook County Cowboys 4-3.

Mason Morris threw 6⅓ innings and Kobe Fell pitched ⅓ of an inning in relief. Fell was 1-3 at the plate with an RBI. Neault finished the game 1-4 with two RBIs, and Mason Morris finished 1-4 with a run scored.

Huerta praised his team’s grit and fight going up against a much larger school.

“Facing a 5A school, we’re a little smaller than them, so for us to come out and compete was a really positive sign to me. They didn’t give up — they have a lot of fight,” Huerta said.

“We were in that game. We had a tough call that could’ve gone either way. We had a runner on second and we had a hard-hit ball that just couldn’t find a hole. If it would’ve gotten through, maybe we score there. We’ve got a resilient team,” Huerta said.

The third game of the six-game homestand took place on Saturday, March 19, against the South Umpqua Lancers and resulted in a 6-3 final in favor of the Lancers. The result was not without controversy, however, as the contest was called due to inclement weather following a three-run fifth inning by the Prospectors.

The Lancers built a 6-0 lead headed into the bottom of the fifth behind a great outing by their starting pitcher.

“Their starting pitcher was quality,” Huerta said. “He’s probably going to be one of the best pitchers we face all season.”

Huerta mentioned a couple of plays early in the first inning that set the tone early in the game: “There were a couple of big outs in the first inning. There were some potentially deep shots that were just missed, so our guys knew we were right there.”

In the bottom of the fifth inning, that changed. A switch on the mound by South Umpqua led to the Prospectors loading the bases and slowly cutting into the lead the Lancers had built over the last 4½ innings.

The Prospectors would cut that six-run lead in half before the game was called due to weather. The game ending prematurely had the Prospectors thinking things could’ve gone differently had they finished the contest.

“That three-run fifth was a huge momentum swing, for sure. We just kind of started rolling there,” Huerta said. “No disrespect to South Umpqua, but I think we would’ve had an excellent chance to win this game had we been allowed to see this through until the end.”

Kobe Fell pitched the entire game for the Prospectors. Parker Neault had another strong showing at the plate, finishing 2-3 with an RBI. Fell also had a good outing at bat, finishing 1-3 with an RBI.

When asked what his takeaways from the first three games were, Huerta mentioned a need to fix defensive lapses. “We just need to clean things up defensively. We’ve had a few more errors than we would like, and I feel like we’re better than that,” he said.

“You can live with two or three errors in a baseball game. After that, you have young men who are pitching their butts off and getting you fly balls and ground balls,” Huerta said. “We have to make those plays.”

Huerta also took time to thank everyone in the community who came out to support his team and get the field ready for each of the games.

“We had a heck of a turnout. The support the community gives to these sports programs is tremendous. So I want to say thank you to everybody that came out or helped with the games. I’m really excited about this year, and go Pros!”

The Prospectors will be in action again on Wednesday, March 23, at home against the Nyssa Bulldogs.