Rodriguez, Valdez supply the power in RiverDogs' rout

RiverDogs 12 Muskingum Valley 2

NEWARK, Ohio — The fourth inning of last Friday's Babe Ruth World Series opener was one of those times that don't come along very often, even for an outstanding team like the Columbia Basin RiverDogs.

The RiverDogs collected six hits and scored eight runs in the fourth, the decisive blow in a 12-2, five-inning win at Don Edwards Park over the tournament co-hosts from Muskingum Valley, Ohio.

Columbia Basin struggled a bit with nerves in the first two innings as Muskingum scratched out a 2-1 lead. But Rodriguez, the Dogs' veteran catcher who was with the program in their last World Series appearance two years ago, turned things around with one swing of the bat.

With JR Jarrell at first base and two outs in the third, Rodriguez fell behind 0-2 against Tyler Moore. It was a pressure situation many less experienced hitters would've wilted under.

"My first approach was just to make contact," Rodriguez said. "I knew he was going to throw me a fastball. When he did, I just sat on it and drove it."

Rodriguez drove it some 360 feet over the wall in left-center, a two-run shot that gave Basin a 3-2 lead it would never relinquish.

The catcher helped instill some confidence in his younger teammates after they fell behind.

"I told the players, 'It's going to happen, you've just got to get used to it,'" Rodriguez said. "We've got to get those jitters out and just play the way you can play."

Third baseman Matt Valdez, who didn't even play in the Dogs' Pacific Northwest regional championship victory, came up with the big hit in the next inning. After Basin had already plated six runs, Valdez slammed reliever Jorday Ayres' offering to a similar spot as Rodriguez's earlier shot.

Valdez finished 3 for 3 and, like Rodriguez, drove in three runs.

"He worked his tail off in practice," Basin manager Randy Boruff said of Valdez. "A couple guys had to go on family vacations and I just told him afterward, before he came here, 'You're going to get the start at third base … What a great day, a great reward, for a kid who's worked really hard."

Basin enacted the 10-run mercy rule in the fifth, going up 12-2 when Colby Melburn drew a leadoff walk, stole second and eventually scored on Jarrell's sacrifice fly.

RiverDog starter Zack Swart dominated after two bumpy innings, striking out six. He allowed only two hits and one walk. Rodriguez believed a brief discussion with Swart helped settle down the southpaw.

"That's my job as catcher - when the pitcher is struggling, just calm him down," Rodriguez said. "I went out there and told him, 'You know what? I think you're rushing it a little bit. You need to calm down. You're trying to do more than you can.'"

Boruff liked the effort Swart put forth, though his location was almost too consistent.

"The one thing I would like to have seen in Zack is changing the level of his pitches," Boruff said. "I mean, everything was right there, right on the knees, right on the corner. You've got to get that ball up every once in a while — high fastballs."

Muskingum Valley scored once in the bottom of the first as Cory Swope doubled off the right-field wall and scored on an Alex Cultice ground ball.

Basin tied it in the second as Rodriguez reached on an error, moved to second on Swart's bunt and scored on a Valdez single. But Muskingum retaliated with an unearned run of its own, restoring the lead on Moore's base hit to left.

Boruff gathered his troops together after they struggled in their first plate appearances and had them change their offensive approach.

"I told them to look to go up the middle more and go the other way," Boruff said. "I thought they were hitting out on their front foot a bit."