Cowboys host North Bend in baseball playoffs

The Crook County Cowboys will host the North Bend Bulldogs Tuesday for the opening round of the state playoffs.

The Cowboys ended the regular season with a 19-6 record and second place in the Tri-Valley Conference. More importantly the team finished eighth in the OSAA power rankings, locking up a home playoff game. North Bend is ranked ninth.

The Cowboys' six losses all come to teams that are playoff bound. They lost twice to Ridgeview, which is ranked fourth in Class 5A, lost twice in league to seventh-ranked The Dalles, once to No. 1-ranked Henley, and once to 10th-ranked Philomath/Alsea. In addition, both losses to The Dalles and the loss to Philomath/Alsea were in one-run games, while the Cowboys lost 13-7 to Henley. The Cowboys lost the two games to tough Ridgeview 13-3 and 15-5.

Crook County averaged more than nine runs a game, tied for second in Class 4A, while limiting their opposition to just under five runs a game. North Bend, which beat Stayton in a play-in game Thursday 6-0, has a 14-8 record despite scoring just under six runs per game, while allowing just over five runs per game to their opponents.

The winner of Tuesday's contest in Prineville will likely travel to Klamath Falls, where they have the unenviable task of playing No. 1-ranked Henley, 25-1. The Cowboys and Henley have history. The Hornets won the lone meeting between the two teams this year. However, Henley also won when the two teams played a regular season game last year, before Crook County defeated the Hornets in the playoffs.

Henley averages just over 11 runs per game, while holding opponents to 2.5.

Other teams to watch for in this year's playoffs include No. 2 ranked North Marion/Gervais, which has a 21-4 record, as well as third-ranked Scappoose, 21-4. The rest of the top 10 teams include No. 4 Marist Catholic,16-9, No. 5 Pendleton/Nixyaawill, 17-8, No. 6 Junction City/Triangle Lake, 16-7, and No. 7 The Dalles, 20-7.