Culver wins fifth straight, storms the Eagles

Culver hit the ball wall and pitcher Houston Wittenburg kept the East Linn Christian Eagles at bay Tuesday in a Special District 3 matchup in Culver.

The Dawgs dominated from the outset, taking a 14-3 win. It moved Culver to 4-3 in league and was their fifth consecutive victory.

Wittenburg kept the Eagles scoreless until the fifth inning, when they plated their three. By then, the Dawgs had their big lead and the game ended via the 10-run rule.

"Houston has been tough this year," said Coach Kyle Kuust. "Carlos Fernandez and Aiden Guest have been equally effective as starters for us."

Culver got on the board in the bottom of the first when Fernandez trotted home from third on a deep fly to center from clean-up hitter Wittenburg. Jace Silbernagel later scored on a hit through short from an infield hit from from Kapp Novelli.

Culver scored two more runs in the second, getting a bloop single RBI from Fernandez and another run on a balk call.

The Dawgs blew it open in the third with three more, the highlights being a Guest double, a hard single by Silbernagel and another deep fly sacrifice RBI from Wittenburg.

Catcher Silbernagel threw out a would-be base-stealer to highlight the top of the fourth for Culver, an inning ended with third-baseman Fernandez fielding a grounder and tossing across for the third out.

The Bulldogs put it away in the fourth. Cole Roff led off with a single then No. 9 hitter Delsin Chapman sent a screaming past shortstop. Fernandez hit a sacrifice fly RBI, followed by an Aiden Guest RBI single. Wittenburg laced a double to center and the Dawgs cruised the rest of the way.

Culver has a doubleheader against East Linn Christian on Friday, then finishes with three-games series matchups against three teams currently ahead of them in the standings: Santiam, then Central Linn, then Monroe-Alsea.

"We're not overlooking anyone ... regardless of who we play," said Kuust. "We're a tough team, and much better than what our ranking (23rd) indicates. We're a positive group and it's tough to rattle us. We throw a lot of strikes and generally make the plays we should. If we hit like we have been recently, we're a solid group."

2A Special District 3 standings as of April 24

Regis 7-2

Monroe/Alsea 7-2

Central Linn 6-4

Santiam 5-5

Culver 4-3

East Linn Christian 1-9

Crosshill Christian 0-7