BAKER/POWDER VALLEY BASEBALL: Andy Richards’ complete game leads Bulldogs to 6-1 win over Vale

Published 6:05 pm Thursday, April 3, 2025

By Jayson Jacoby | Baker City Herald

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Baker's Jake McClaughry runs into third base against Vale on April 3, 2025. (Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald)

Baker's Jaxon Logsdon prepares to swing at a pitch against Vale on April 3, 2025. Logsdon had a two-run home run and an RBI single in Baker's 6-1 win. (Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald)

Baker catcher John Garcia against Vale on April 3, 2025. (Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald)

Baker's Sage Joseph pulls into third base against Vale on April 3, 2025. (Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald)

Baker first basemen Zane Morgan waits for a possible pickoff throw against Vale on April 3, 2025. (Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald)

Baker pitcher Andy Richards throws against Vale on April 3, 2025. Richards was the winning pitcher, going all seven innings in the 6-1 win. (Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald)

Baker's Clay Stevens hits the ball against Vale on April 3, 2025. (Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald)

Baker second baseman Jake McClaughry prepares to tag out Vale's Kellen Hartley on April 3, 2025. (Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald)

Andy Richards walked the first Vale batter he faced on four pitches, but it was about the only time the junior pitcher wasn’t in control.

Richards kept the Vikings off balance with offspeed pitches and pinpoint control over seven innings, and the Bulldogs had timely hitting, including Jaxon Logsdon’s two-run home run in the fifth, as Baker rolled to a 6-1 win on a sunny but windy Thursday afternoon, April 3, at the Sports Complex.

Richards scattered seven hits and struck out three batters as the Bulldogs won their third straight game and improved to 4-3 on the season. He threw 51 strikes in 77 total pitches, walking only one other batter after the leadoff pass.

“Once I found my rhythm I felt like I was hitting my spots, and I kept that up for seven innings,” Richards said.

Baker coach Tim Smith called Richards’ performance “one of the best pitching performances in terms of command that I’ve coached.”

It was also well-timed.

With Baker playing the second of three games in three days, Richards’ complete game means the Bulldogs have four pitchers available for a nonleague game against Melba, Idaho, on Friday, April 4, at 4 p.m. at the Sports Complex.

“That really opens up the opportunities,” Smith said. “It was big.”

Vale scored its only run in the top of the first.

After the opening walk, Vale used a sacrifice bunt and a hard ground ball up the middle to score the first run.

But Richards settled down with a strikeout and a ground ball out to Logsdon at shortstop to limit the damage to a single run.

Baker took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the first.

Sage Joseph led off with a walk, and Talon Gyllenberg singled, with Joseph forced out at second. With one out, Jake McClaughry hit a hard ground ball that the Vale shortstop couldn’t handle, and Gyllenberg scored to make it 1-1.

Zane Morgan followed with an RBI single.

After a scoreless second inning, Baker doubled its lead with a pair of runs in the third.

Joseph singled, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error.

Logsdon singled to shortstop to score Joseph, and McClaughry later scored on a throwing error.

With Richards in control, Baker added two more insurance runs in the fifth.

After Gyllenberg’s single, Logsdon crushed a fastball from Kellen Hartley, and the ball had barely reached its apex when it cleared the leftfield fence.

Smith said the Bulldogs need to be more aggressive with first-pitch fastballs, but he credited their timely hitting.

Talon Gyllenberg was 3 for 4, and Logsdon, Joseph, McClaughry and Morgan had two hits each.

He was also pleased with Baker’s defense behind Richards, which helped keep the Vikings scoreless for the final six innings.

Vale loaded the bases with one out on consecutive singles in the second, but a Viking runner failed to tag up on a flyout to right field that could have been a sacrifice fly.

Richards then got a strikeout to end the threat.

The Vikings led off the fourth with a single, but the runner was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.

After a one-out single in the fifth, Ethan Fletcher snared a line drive to left field for the third out.

The Vikings had runners on first and second with one out in the sixth, but Logsdon snared a hard grounder, flipped the ball to McClaughry at second and he completed the double play to end the inning.

Jayson has worked at the Baker City Herald since November 1992, starting as a reporter. He has been editor since December 2007. He graduated from the University of Oregon Journalism School in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in news-editorial journalism.