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Douglas pitches clean sweep

The Douglas College Royals baseball team showed the strength of its pitching staff in a weekend sweep over the much-improved Olympic College Rangers last weekend.

The Douglas College Royals baseball team showed the strength of its pitching staff in a weekend sweep over the much-improved Olympic College Rangers last weekend.

After nearly knocking the Royals out of the playoff picture a year ago, revenge was sweet as the Douglas pitching staff had the most dominant weekend in its program history, said Douglas head coach Cavanagh Whitely.

Sophomore transfer Josh Larsen dominated Game 1 in his first conference start. Larsen held the Rangers hitless until two outs in the seventh inning when a line-drive got by a Royals' outfielder for a triple. Larsen went on to strikeout the next hitter to preserve the victory. Clutch hits from Tyler Yorko, Brandon Bufton and Carter Sherban sealed the 4-1 victory.

In Game 2, shortstop Colby Rossi continued his hot hitting with two hits, and starting left-hander Caleb Lefebvre gave up only four hits while striking out four over six innings of work. Dan Altoe was great in his three innings of relief work to register a 3-2 save.

On Sunday, the series shifted to Bremerton, Washington with similar results.

Freshman lefty Cory Duggan pitched a complete game shutout in the opening game of the double header, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning before the Rangers managed a bleeder into left field.

Duggan struck out six batters to improve his staff lead to 16 K's. Duggan has not allowed a run in the 13 innings he has pitched for the Royals this spring.

Offensively, Yorko led the charge with three hits and Brandon Bufton had the game-winning run batted in to add to his two-hit performance.

Game 4 matched the Royals power-armed freshman Quinn Allen duelled Olympic's ace Devin Smith in a pitcher's duel. Smith was outstanding in his eight innings, striking out nine Royals and allowing just one run.

Allen went one better, blanking the Rangers in his seven innings, behind some great defensive plays by Rossi and Brayden Munro.

The Royals second basemen Jared Frew had the best day at the plate with three hits, but it was freshman catcher Mike Orosz who had the game-winning RBI, with a line-drive up the middle to plate the winning run. Left-handed pitcher Dylan Remenyk and righthander Carter Sherban notched the hold and save, respectively, for the 1-0 victory.

The most impressive statistic was the Royals pitching staff not giving up a single earned run in the four-game series, added Whitely. "Congrats to all the pitchers and pitching coach Shawn Schaefer on this impressive achievement."

The Royals record now sits at 4-0 in conference play and 7-5 overall, placing Douglas in first place in the ultra-competitive Northwest community college league North Division.

It is the first time the Royals have been at the top of the conference.

Rossi leads all regular position players with a .375 batting average over the first 12 games of the season.

This weekend, the Royals travel to conference powerhouse Bellevue College on Saturday before returning to Whalley Stadium on Sunday for a double-bill against the Bulldogs, starting at 1 p.m.