Bears take second at District, advance to State

MOSES LAKE – The Brewster Bears varsity baseball team defeated Kittitas, 9-2, but lost to Tri-Cities Prep, 12-0, to win second place in District 5/6 competition at the Paul Lauzier Athletic Complex in Moses Lake, last Saturday, May 13.
Brewster will face Northwest Christian, Colbert, in the first round of state playoffs at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 20, at Ferris High School in Spokane.
The Bears reached the District championship game by beating DeSales at home, Tuesday, May 9, and Kittitas at Moses Lake last Saturday.
A huge fifth inning turned a 2-0 deficit into a 6-2 lead and eventual 7-3 win for the Bears in loser-out District playoff competition against DeSales last Tuesday, May 9.
“(We) turned it on after they made a pitching change in the fourth,” said coach Todd Phillips.
The turnaround began when freshman, Kade Kelpman, got on base with a hit. DeSales next walked Eric Martinez, and eighth grader, Cade Gebbers laid down a sacrifice bunt but still reached first to load the bases.
Freshman, Logan McGuire singled to drive in two runs to knot the game at 2-2, and the rally was on.
Sophomore Joe Taylor, who had been hitting well all season, put the Bears up, 4-2, with a double that drove in two runs. Sophomore, Jeff Sonneman singled two more runners and sophomore, Isaac Baker singled in the sixth Bear to finish the inning 6-2. Each team added another run to make the final, 7-3.

Kittitas falls

Playing what coach, Todd Phillips called “our best game of the year,” the young Bears came alive in the bottom of the third inning when Corey Jarrell singled in McGuire to get Brewster on the board, 1-0.
Sonneman tripled into right field and scored Jarrell from first, and a wild Kittitas pitch allowed Sonneman to steal home to make it 3-0 Brewster after three innings.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Kelpman scored, followed by McGuire who cashed in on a Jarrell double to put the Bears up, 5-0 and persuade Kittitas to change pitchers.
Taylor provided the “film at 11” moment with a home run over the left field fence that also scored Jarrell.
Kittitas put a run across the plate in the top of the fifth but could not keep pace with the Bears who added two more runs and the chance to meet Tri-Cities Prep.
Sonneman pitched the entire game and gave a strong performance from the mound

Tri-Cities Prep wins

Much of what went right for the Bears against Kittitas, went wrong against the Jaguars.
“I thought we beat ourselves against Tri-Cities Prep,” said coach Phillips of the 12-0 loss. “They are good but they are beatable.”
The Jaguars took advantage of Brewster defensive errors and multiple walks to squeeze runs out of the lapses in the Bears’ inconsistent play. Brewster went through three pitchers trying to find the right combination to counterpunch the steady Tri-Cities progress but came up short.
“Free offense is the key to success in the playoffs,” said coach Phillips. “We can’t make errors and walk guys.”