Clackamas Community College’s baseball team completed a five game sweep of the Mt. Hood Community College Saints on April 23 with two wins, 7-3 and 3-0, in a double header. The sweep pushes the Cougars’ record to 10-9 in league and has the Cougars fourth in the Southern Region.

Originally the series was scheduled to be played through April 10-14, but due to constant rain, games one and two were pushed back to April 14, game three was played on April 19 and games four and five were played on April 23.

The Cougars grabbed games one and two 7-5, 1-0.

In game three, sophomore second baseman Berry Hunt, who is no stranger to the pitcher’s mound, started for Clackamas. It was Hunt’s second start at pitcher in the series. Hunt threw for seven innings, keeping the Saints scoreless through four innings.

“I had a lot of confidence going into the game,” said Hunt. “I just mixed it up and kept [Mt. Hood] off guard and  on their toes.”

Hunt would get early run support from his teammates in the second inning, sophomore outfielder Tyler Oscarson hit a run batted in single, Hunt hit a sacrifice fly for an RBI, freshman third baseman Nathan Loranger added an RBI and Oscarson scored on an error by Mt. Hood’s pitcher giving the Cougar  4-0 lead going into the third inning.

Mt. Hood scored three runs in the fifth inning to close in on Clackamas’ lead 4-3. Hunt answered by shutting out the Saints in the top of sixth inning.

The Cougars widened the gap scoring three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning when Loranger went yard. The home run was Loranger’s first of the season, and gave Clackamas a 7-3 lead heading into the seventh inning.

“It was awesome that it was in a situation where it helped us win the game,” Loranger said. “It’s nice to get three runs on one swing and I’m just happy I can contribute to the team.”

Mt. Hood scored two more runs in the seventh inning, but Hunt was able to get out of the jam stranding two runners on base.

Freshman pitcher Cameron Gleason took over for Hunt, and was able to keep the Saints to one hit through the eighth and ninth innings. Gleason was awarded the save, his first of the season, and Hunt got the win, his fourth of the season.

Games four and five was the second double header of the series, and was played at Mt. Hood.

Sophomore pitcher Cody Anderson started game four for Clackamas. Pitching 4.2 innings, Anders hon walked five, gave up five hits, two earned runs, walked five batters, and struckout two. Anderson left the game with the Cougars leading 4-3, and earned his second win of the season.

Freshman Derek Eubanks replaced Anderson on the mound, pitching 2.2 innings and holding the Saints to three hits, and one run.

Clackamas’ bats were popping in game four. Sophomore Grant Horwitz hit a leadoff triple in the top of the fourth, and scored on an Oscarson RBI single which tied the game at 2-2. Loranger hit an RBI single, and Hunt scored on a Saints error to give the Cougars a 4-3 lead.

The Cougars added three more runs in the eighth inning with sophomore shortstop Renner Stecki, sophomore catcher Cody Gleason and sophomore first baseman Jacob Kaady scoring on errors by Mt. Hood.

With one out in the eighth inning, Clackamas made a call to the bullpen and sophomore closing-pitcher Grayson Fenwick relieved Eubanks of his duties. Fenwick held the Saints to one hit and preserved the 7-4 win for Clackamas.

Freshman pitcher Mason Schimmel was making his first start since throwing his historic one-hitter against Clark Community College on April 18, but he wasn’t done making history. Schimmel gave up a hit to the second batter he faced, but not another the entire game, recording back-to-back one hitters.

“[Schimmel] threw great,” Head Coach Jim Hoppel said. “He has a lot of confidence in himself. His slider was working great and his curveball was a great out pitch.”

Tyler Parker gave Clackamas an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when he crushed a two-run home run. The home run was Parker’s fifth of the season.

“It was big for me because I’ve been trying to get in a rhythm,” Parker said. “It was a good start to the game and it got us fired up.”

The Cougars would add a run when Kaady scored on an error by Mt. Hood’s catcher.

With Schimmel dealing, the Cougars were able to secure the sweep of the Saints. Schimmel finished the game with seven strikeouts and only two walks. Schimmel recorded his fourth win of the season.

“I didn’t think. I just threw,” Schimmel said. “I didn’t think about runners, earned run average, strikeouts or walks, I was just throwing the ball to the glove.”

Clackamas started a series versus Lane Community College on Tuesday, dropping game one 10-6. The Cougars are set to continue the series today.