One of the keys to being a championship-caliber team — in any sport — is not just winning games, but understanding how those games are won.
That’s how a team establishes its identity.
Finding an identity has not been difficult for the Shorewood baseball team.
And head coach Wyatt Tonkin and his players aren’t shy about sharing their formula — the Thunderbirds’ 9-1 conference record and 11-1 overall mark are products of great pitching and great defense.
Shorewood’s opponents are well aware of the T-birds’ strengths, but that hasn’t stopped Shorewood from becoming one of the top Class 3A baseball teams in the state.
Leading the way is senior left-handed pitcher Ian Oxnevad. Oxnevad is committed to Oregon State University, but could be an early-round selection in the Major League Baseball draft in June, Tonkin said.
Oxnevad is 5-0 this season with a 0.24 earned run average. He has allowed just seven hits, walked seven batters and struck out 44 in his five starts. He didn’t allow his first run of the season until the sixth inning of his most recent start, against Mountlake Terrace — a game in which he had a no-hitter through five innings.
It’s not hard to figure out why MLB teams are interested. A 6-foot-4, 200-pound lefty with control who throws in the low 90s is bound to attract a few radar guns. There were roughly a dozen scouts at Oxnevad’s most recent start, something he tries to ignore.
“It’s overwhelming to look up there and very humbling also,” he said. “I try to not notice them, but it’s pretty hard not to notice those guys up there. I try to stay in the zone as much as possible.”
So far, staying in the zone hasn’t been a problem, something Tonkin credits to Oxnevad’s maturity.
“He’s older and he’s going about it like a professional,” Tonkin said. “Things that he can’t control, he’s realized, ‘I can’t control these. I’m just going to pitch and do the best I can.’ The results are pretty good.”
Mountlake Terrace head coach Andrew Watters has faced Oxnevad over the past several seasons and said it takes a near-perfect approach in order to have success.
“He’s really tough,” Watters said. “You’ve got to take advantage of your situations and you’ve got to get a pitch to hit against him, which is really tough. He doesn’t throw many hittable pitches. You’ve got to be patient and you’ve got to have a good approach at the plate — and all nine of your guys have to do it.”
Entering their three-game series last week against Mountlake Terrace, the Thunderbirds had recorded shutouts in six of their first nine games. They had allowed just nine runs and 23 hits in those nine games, all victories.
“I’m kind of waiting for the other hat to drop and all of a sudden we have a seven- or eight-run inning,” Tonkin said. “It will happen. It’s bound to happen sooner or later and we’ve just got to play through it and pick it back up again.”
The Thunderbirds didn’t give up a seven- or eight-run inning, but the “other hat” finally dropped last week against Terrace. Oxnevad escaped with a 3-1 win over the Hawks on Tuesday and Shorewood won 3-2 on Wednesday before the Hawks handed the Thunderbirds their first defeat of the season with a 3-1 Wesco 3A South win on Friday.
The Thunderbirds will attempt to rebound from their first setback with this week’s three-game series against Meadowdale.
While Oxnevad gives the Thunderbirds an ace at the top of their rotation, other members of the pitching staff also have been consistently getting the job done. Shorewood’s No. 2 starter, senior left-hander Cole McKisson, could be one of the keys to a deep playoff run.
McKisson is 3-0 this season with a 1.33 ERA. He has allowed 15 hits, walked six batters and struck out 20.
“We’re working hard on his breaking ball and he’s shown tremendous improvement,” Tonkin said. “I told him at the beginning of the year, ‘You’re going to have to shoulder some of the load, so get another wheel barrow and haul that dirt if we’re going to go anywhere.’ He said, ‘OK, coach. I’m with you.’ He’s really stepped up.”
Both Oxnevad and McKisson have thrown no-hitters this season.
Much of the pitching staff’s success can be credited to the defense behind them.
“If the ball is hit in the air, I know my outfielders are flying to the ball as fast as they can,” Oxnevad said. “I have lots of confidence in those guys that they are going to catch it. If the ball is hit on the ground, our entire infield has so much range and they can cover practically the entire infield. It gives me a lot of confidence that I can let them hit the ball and they are going to get out.”
The Thunderbirds have committed just 11 errors this season and just two players on the team have multiple errors. Tonkin said more than half of the team’s practices are dedicated to defensive execution.
“You’re not born a Ken Griffey, Jr. that’s going to Spider-Man balls off the wall, you’ve got work at it,” Tonkin said. “You’ve got to work on your jumps and getting to the ball. There’s times where I will stop practice and say, ‘We need to work harder at reading the ball of the bat here and pick up our defense.’ They take up the challenge and they work at it hard.”
With a .323 team batting average, the Thunderbirds aren’t bad on offense either.
But as the playoffs approach, it’s the one-two punch of Oxnevad and McKisson that likely will decide how far the Thunderbirds go.
“We’ve got to get (to the playoffs) first,” Tonkin said. “Nothing is given to us. I tell the guys, ‘Everyone is going to bring their best game against you. It’s just natural. So we need to bring ours.’
“Hopefully, if we can get there, that one-two punch is enough,”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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