Published 8:30 pm Monday, June 15, 2026
Quick chemistry, dynamite pitching have Rogues on 11-game winning streak
Around the dugout and beyond, the Medford Rogues seem to have something special brewing already this summer for second-year manager Kevin Olmstead.
They’ve shown it repeatedly, closing out their fourth straight series victory — and third sweep in the bunch — on Sunday to head into Wednesday’s series opener against the California Tigers on an 11-game winning streak.
“This has been a great summer to start,” Olmstead said during Monday’s off day. “This is a super close team already, which is awesome. We met up three weeks ago for the first time ever, and now three weeks later, these kids are all really, really close. On some of these off days right now, there’s like 10 of them going golfing and a handful of guys are going fishing today with each other. That’s a special thing and that’s a special bond, and I think that chemistry is definitely part of the reason for our success.”
Another part is exactly what a collegiate wood-bat summer league franchise hopes to see out of its players, and that’s a hunger to compete while also working to improve their own traits.
“These players came in with something to prove,” said Olmstead. “Whether they’re at a university now or in the transfer portal or uncommitted, they all want to get work in and they all want to improve. No one’s here simply to get at-bats and go home. They all want to learn the game, and they all want to get better.”
An early trademark has been the Rogues’ ability to get on the scoreboard early, and come back with an immediate response whenever their opponent may strike back.
Medford (11-1) saw its lead trimmed to 4-3 in last Friday’s series opener against the Fresno A’s in the top of the eighth inning, only to respond with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning for a 6-3 triumph.
In Saturday’s 3-1 victory, the A’s again moved within one run after cutting their deficit in half in the third inning, only to have the Rogues respond with an answer in the eighth.
Sunday’s series finale saw Medford build a 7-3 advantage before things got tight at 7-6 in the seventh, but the hometown crew tacked on five unanswered runs for a 12-6 win.
“That does show how much these guys care and are committed to winning,” said Olmstead. “It’s another part of just doing your job and just answering back.”
Entering Wednesday’s matchup, the Rogues boast a team batting average of .331 behind a host of hitters that are hitting .400 and above in Travis Finney (.467), Daniel Behrmann (.438), Jaden Neugebauer (.429), Jackson Rosenthal (.400) and Will Salihar (.400).
Anthony Thomas Jr. and Larsen Koester lead the team with eight RBIs apiece, with Evan Saito close behind with seven RBIs. Chris Ortiz leads in runs scored with 10, just ahead of Jonathan Walsh (9) and Koester (8). Ortiz has also drawn 14 walks in 12 appearances against only two strikeouts.
As promising as those early efforts — and the variety of sources supplying them — have been, Olmstead doesn’t mince words on where the Rogues have really turned the corner from a year ago.
“The big thing right now is our pitching staff,” he said. “We have a 1.73 ERA as of now, and that’s incredible. We’re going to win a lot of ballgames if our pitchers keep doing that. We don’t expect them to keep this up, but, at the same time, these pitchers compared to my first go at it last summer, it’s night and day different with their consistency of commanding the strike zone.”
Herman Luna has headlined the effort, winning all three of his starts behind a 1.00 ERA in 18 innings pitched. Lorenzo Lew is 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in four relief appearances, while Caleb Randolph has nailed down three saves in his four outings.
All of that bodes well with the Rogues nearing Pacific Empire League play, which begins Friday as Medford opens a four-game homestand with the Solano Mudcats (5-1) at Harry & David Field. Start times for each Friday and Saturday’s games is 6:35 p.m., with a 3:35 p.m. doubleheader set Sunday.
Entering Monday, PEL teams were a combined 59-9 thanks to early pushes by not only the Rogues, but with the Lincoln Potters (15-0) and Humboldt Crabs (12-0). Only the West Coast Kings at 9-5 have suffered multiple losses.
“This is a good league,” said Olmstead. “The league is unique, especially with summer ball, because every single game counts. With these teams, every team can beat any team on any given day. That’s the beauty of this league.”
Healdsburg has claimed the first two PEL championships and serve as the standard bearers, but Olmstead has high hopes that the Medford bunch can put itself in that playoff picture before the end of July.
“We have a goal and we want to win this entire thing, but we can’t really think about that right now,” he said. “We have to think about the day-to-day and how we can get better. How can we get better this day in (batting practice), how can we get better with our defensive specialties before BP, how can we get better during the game when I just made a mistake — how can I fix that and flush that. If we all truly continue to do that as a team, that’s when those wins happen. That’s when we compound wins and make big-time upsets and surprise teams.”
A run to the championship series, however, really is the cherry on top of what Olmstead and his coaching staff hope to accomplish through the dog days of summer.
“At the end of the day, we want to win this thing very badly,” he said, “but it’s about them growing into better human beings and better baseball players. As long as we’re doing that, I’m doing my job.”
Reach sports editor Kris Henry at [email protected] or 458-488-2035