Thursday, March 28, 2024

Bears slay Dragons, pen Panthers to advance to state baseball Final Four

Meet Adna in the semifinals

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YAKIMA – The Brewster boys’ varsity baseball team took two steps closer to a shot at the state title with wins over St. Georges and Asotin in the first two rounds  of elimination play on Pete Orgill Field in Yakima last Saturday, May 19. The Bears slayed the St. Georges Dragons, 5-3, in the opening round of 16, and penned the Asotin Panthers, 4-0, in the quarterfinals to advance to the final four semis in Centralia next weekend.
Head coach Todd Phillips said he was glad to get the win over the Dragons because “they knocked our girls out of the title contention in the semis in soccer and basketball boys out in the quarterfinals” but also acknowledged that his team made some mistakes along the way.
Phillips said the Bears were “very fortunate to have won this game. Not often do you make so many mistakes and pull out a win.”
On the plus side Brewster “absolutely crushed the ball,” said Phillips. “To hit over .500 in a state playoff game is ridiculous.”
On the other hand, “our base running was absolutely atrocious,” said Phillips. “That is something we pride ourselves in and we spend part of every practice on base running…we probably ran ourselves out of at least five runs.”
From the first crack of Brewster’s bats in the bottom of the first inning, St. Georges was on notice that the Bears were for real. Joe Taylor led off with a single and took second base on an outfield error, said Phillips. Corley Jarrell drove Taylor home with a double and scored himself on Isaac Baker’s sacrifice fly.
With a 2-0 first-inning lead, Jorge Ramirez singled in the second, advanced a base and scored on Taylor’s double inside what Phillips called Orgill Field’s “Chain Link Monster.”
“Any other field we’ve played on this year, that is a bomb,” Phillips said of Taylor’s wannabe home run.
The Dragons scored a run in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings but the Bears added two as well to make the score 5-3 at the end of five. Quincy Vassar singled in the third inning and was driven home by back-to-back singles from Kade Kelpman and Jeff Sonneman. In the bottom of the fifth, Jarrell walked and later scored on a Vassar single to put the fire out for the Dragons. Taylor was the winning pitcher.
Panthers caged
Brewster’s base running improved against Asotin, said Phillips, and Vassar had a stellar turn on the pitcher’s mound.
Vassar “gave up his only two hits, one in the first and one in the second and did not allow another base runner until the seventh,” said Phillips. “The first runner to reach scoring position was with one out in the seventh.”
Sonneman walked in the second inning, took second on a passed ball, third on a Logan McGuire single, and scored on a double steal, said Phillips. Then it was Jarrell’s turn to walk, reach third base on a Baker fly ball, and score Sonneman’s sacrifice fly.
In the fourth inning Ramirez reached base on an error and scored on Baker’s single. Cade Gebbers scored Brewster’s final run in the sixth inning when he singled, reached second on a Ramirez bunt, and scored  on Jarrell’s two-out double.
Phillips said he was particularly pleased with the way his batters approached the plate.
“Drove their starter’s pitch count up early and were able to get to their third guy earlier,” said Phillips of accelerating Asotin’s pitching rotation.
Vassar was the game’s winning pitcher.
“We are happy for the kids who have been on the team the past four years who have suffered the pain of losing that quarterfinal game,” said Phillips of the Bears’ win over Asotin this time around. “We stopped a three-year losing streak in that game.”
The Bears will face Adna in the state semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday, May 25, on Wheeler Field in Centralia. Tri-Cites Prep will play Kalama in the other semifinal game. TCP defeated Liberty Bell, 12-1, and Colfax, 5-1, to reach the semis. Kalama downed Crosspoint, 7-0, and Wahkiakum 5-3, to advance. The winners will meet for the state championship at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 26.
 

Yakima, Brewster Bears, baseball

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