REDMOND – Sometimes in high school baseball playoff games, if a team runs into the wrong pitcher its season can be cut short in a hurry.

Such was the case at Redmond High School on Monday.

The seventh-ranked Panthers, the top seed from the Intermountain Conference, took on Grants Pass and the Cavemen’s starting pitcher Ben Murray. Murray was outstanding on the mound, scattering five hits and striking out six batters in a complete-game effort as the Cavemen, the No. 4 seed from the Southern Oregon Conference, upset the Panthers 3-2 in a second round Class 4A state playoff game.

”We ran into that one guy,” said Redmond coach Marc Horner. ”That’s the thing about baseball, you can run into that one guy. You’ve got to hand it to him, he was a great pitcher. You’ve got to be able to score more than two runs to win a game.”

The Panthers (17-5) appeared to have an answer for Murray in the bottom of the fourth inning when senior catcher Mike Nordstrom blasted a solo home run to give Redmond a 2-1 lead.

But Grants Pass (14-11) came right back in the top of the fifth, when Steve Draper singled down the third-base line to score Andrew Gallego from second base. The next batter, Mike Mills, hit a drive to left-center field that scored Draper for what proved to be the winning run.

Over the next three innings, Murray, a junior, retired eight of the last nine Redmond batters.

”My arm was strong,” Murray said. ”They didn’t hurt me once. My arm was pretty consistent today. I think I was strongest in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.”

The Panthers also had strong pitching. Left-handed senior Enoch Deaton went six innings, giving up three runs on five hits and striking out seven batters. Senior Griffin Webb came on in relief in the top of the seventh to retire three straight Cavemen, two on strikeouts.

”We played great defensively, we were just a little slow with the bats,” Deaton said.

Nordstrom said the Panthers didn’t provide Deaton any run support, getting just one hit after Grants Pass took its 3-2 advantage.

”We just didn’t hit the ball and we didn’t swing the bat,” Nordstrom said. ”We had excellent pitching – two of the best in the state. We just couldn’t hit.”

The Cavemen struck first in the top of the first when Mitch Garcia drove a base hit up the middle to score Draper from second.

Redmond answered to tie the score 1-1 in the bottom half of the inning on Webb’s single to the left-field fence that scored Daniel Bulkley.

Bulkley, a junior third baseman, was the only Panther with multiple hits, going two for two with two singles and a walk.

The Cavemen’s five hits all came from different batters.

”I knew Enoch was good,” said Grants Pass coach Stacy Morgan. ”He throws that curve ball and we just hung on. We got some pitches deep in the count and stuck with him. We never gave up. I’m just really happy for our kids.”

Grants Pass advances to take on Dallas in a third-round playoff game on Wednesday, while Redmond is left wondering what could have been.

”They didn’t throw anything at us that we didn’t expect,” Horner said. ”We had a great season. They (his players) worked hard. I felt like they deserved to go further, but that’s not the way it works sometimes.”