Barbers win Oregon American Legion AAA state title, head for regionals

Published 3:55 pm Sunday, August 3, 2025

What started as a celebration of a local legendary team of the past, turned into an even bigger one for a team of the present as the Post 158 Barbers defeated the Corvallis Marketmen 9-2 in the final of the Oregon AAA American Legion State Championship on July 30, at Joe Etzel Field on the campus of the University of Portland.

With a team made up of many of the area’s best high school and first-year college players, the Barbers posted a 5-0 record against the best the state had to offer.

They kicked off the tournament with a 3-1 win over the Eugene Challengers; followed that with a 7-5 victory over Corvallis; next narrowly defeated the Hillsdale Merchants 4-3; defeated Eugene a second time, 7-3; then closed things with a convincing 9-2 win over Corvallis a second time to claim the state trophy and punch their ticket to Montana for the upcoming Northwest Regional.

Barbers manager, Joe Duran, said while it wasn’t surprising what his team was able to accomplish, it was an impressive run through a bracket fraught with talented players and teams.

“It was beautiful baseball,” Duran said. “But this team is confident, so I wasn’t surprised by how they played. They’ve been doing it all summer.”

Duran said his team set the tone in the tournament opener against Eugene, when after watching 12 guys from the 1969 Madison Contractors – the last Oregon team to win the American Legion World Series – throw out the first pitch, they outlasted the Challengers’ starting pitcher Grady Saunders who labored through just two innings in his start.

“He was up to 60 pitches through two innings and we ran him out of there,” Duran said. “Then Connor Parry pitched five innings of beautiful baseball and we won.”

Parry, who recently graduated from Sherwood and starred for the Bowmen, allowed one earned run on just six hits, while striking out five and walking none in five innings of work.

The Barbers also got wins from Aloha HIgh School’s Achilles Garcia, Jesuit’s Grady Keljo, Ridgeview’s Logan Nakamura, and Jesuit’s Calvin Martinez on the mound.

Jesuit’s Carter Stewart was voted the tournament MVP, batting .750 with seven RBI, along with leading in on-base and slugging percentage – something Duran said was more than impressive.

“It’s the most dominant tournament I’ve ever seen,” Duran said.

Stewart was one of six Barber players to be named to the All-Tournament Team, including Parry, Nakamura, Jesuit’s Kainoa Santiago, Sunset’s Dakota Chun, Scappoose’s Joe Fagan, and Aloha’s Jayden Nakamura.

Duran said that while Fagan had missed action prior to the tournament, he played like he hadn’t missed a beat, and did so despite playing an unfamiliar position – third base.

“Joe (Fagan) had been hurt for three weeks and had never played third base,” the coach said. “But he looked like he’d played third his whole life.”

Now, with their second state title in the last three seasons in the books, the Barbers will represent Oregon in the Northwest Regional tournament starting Aug. 6 in Billings, Montana, something Duran believes his team is ready for.

“We’re peaking for sure,” Duran said. “We are as sharp right now as we’ve ever been.”

And what does that mean for expectations?

“The expectation is to win regionals and represent the Northwest in the World Series,” Duran said. “And that’s a realistic goal. We’re better at every position than a lot of teams and better all around.”

The Barbers are scheduled to face the Washington state champions in the first round of the Northwest Regional on Wednesday, at Dehler Park in Billings.