Baker/Powder Valley rallies past Burns for 9-7 road win

Baker/Powder Valley showed it could take a punch and answer back, rallying past Burns 9-7 in a six-inning nonleague game at Burns and then blanking the Hilanders over the final three innings. The comeback gave the Bulldogs a road win that went beyond the scoreboard: after falling behind early, they steadied themselves and finished with the kind of late control coaches want to see before tougher league games.

The Bulldogs struck first when Jake McClaughry delivered an RBI single in the top of the first. Burns answered quickly, scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning to grab a 4-1 lead and put Baker/Powder Valley in chase mode almost immediately. Instead of letting the inning snowball, the Bulldogs responded with four runs of their own in the top of the second, and three of those runs came with two outs. That turnaround shifted the game’s tone and showed Baker/Powder Valley was able to answer pressure with timely contact rather than waiting for the deficit to grow.

That was the critical stretch in a game listed by the Oregon School Activities Association as a 4 p.m. nonleague matchup on Tuesday, May 12. In a six-inning game, the ability to recover in the second inning and then hold Burns scoreless through the final three frames mattered as much as the final run total. Baker/Powder Valley’s late shutout closed the door on a Burns rally and turned a back-and-forth game into a controlled finish, the sort of result that can matter in a season defined by learning how to compete in tight spots.

The win also carried meaningful context for Baker County baseball. MaxPreps listed Baker/Powder Valley at 5-13 after the victory, while Burns fell to 14-5. The 9-7 result was a major reversal from the teams’ earlier meeting this season, when Burns beat Baker/Powder Valley 13-1. MaxPreps said the Hilanders’ loss was their closest since March 28, underscoring how much more competitive this rematch became.

Baker/Powder Valley was scheduled to return home for a Greater Oregon League doubleheader against Pendleton on Friday, May 15, at 2 p.m. at the Baker Sports Complex. After a road comeback like this one, the Bulldogs will try to carry that sharper, more resilient edge into a higher-pressure league setting.