Make it 13 wins and counting for the Camas High School baseball team.
Jeremy Faulkner delivered a double dose of delirium for the Papermakers Monday. His 3-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning erased Kelso’s 3-run advantage with one swing of the bat. Faulkner smashed the baseball over the left field fence again to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and Camas celebrated a 7-6 victory and a doubleheader sweep of the Hilanders.
“Jeremy had himself quite a game,” said Camas head coach Joe Hallead. “We had him in the DH spot for the first time in the second game, and he was getting some good reads on the pitchers. He was putting some good swings on the ball all day.”
Camas relief pitcher Nate Lauritzen tossed three hitless innings to pick up the victory. Starting pitcher Ryan Patterson gutted it out on the mound through four innings. He ran into some tough jams, but got out of the mess with the Paermakers only trailing by three runs.
“Ryan made some defensive lapses, but he battled out of them and gave us a chance to come back and win the game. Nate was just nasty,” Hallead said. “It was just a good job by our guys to come back when their backs were against the wall. It just shows the poise and leadership of our team.”
Camas won the first game over Kelso Monday, by the score of 8-2. John Welborn went 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run and three runs scored. Kurt Yinger tossed another seven innings, and racked up 11 strikeouts. Kelso scored two unearned runs on five hits, which means Yinger (5-0) has not allowed an earned run in 32 innings pitched.