Snohomish baseball swings past Kamiak to open season

Published 12:47 am Thursday, March 12, 2026

MUKILTEO — As the 2026 baseball season kicked off for Snohomish and Kamiak at Geiger Field on Wednesday, there was no easing into the waters. Quite literally, as the game scheduled to take place at Snohomish pivoted to Kamiak’s turf field due to the rainy weather, but also because both teams dove headfirst into a matchup between two of the expected top teams in their respective leagues.

The game lived up to its billing.

After a three-run home run from Deyton Wheat gave Snohomish a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third, Kamiak strung together rallies across the next two innings to take a 5-4 lead. By the time Wheat returned to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, Snohomish had put runners on the corners with one out.

The junior outfielder/pitcher was prepared to take a free base when Kamiak gathered for a quick mound visit, but they ultimately decided to pitch to him. Wheat only needed to see one to tie the game, as he immediately smacked a grounder between first and second base to drive in his fourth run of the game.

“I honestly thought they were going to intentionally walk me, but I was really happy to get the chance to hit again,” Wheat said. “I was looking for the fastball again, got it the first pitch, and hit it right by first and scored that run. But it was nice to see that fastball.”

With the score level entering the sixth, senior Rider Walsh retired six of the next seven batters (one walk) to cap off his long-relief appearance. The pitcher/outfielder also led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and scored the winning run on senior Landon Klein’s RBI single to give the Panthers (1-0) an exciting 6-5 victory against the Knights (0-1).

Even after their 4-0 lead was erased, Snohomish’s dugout felt no doubt.

“I don’t think a single head was down,” Walsh said. “I think we immediately knew what we had to do, and we knew we could do it. I think we all have a great amount of confidence towards each other, and we’re able to just put the bat on the ball right after that, and upset them.”

Wheat led the Panthers offense with four RBI, going 2-for-2 with a walk. Junior Breckin Davisson (1-for-3) and Klein (1-for-4) each drove in a run, and senior Reve LeRoux scored two runs. On the mound, senior Luke Davis pitched 3.1 innings in the start, allowing six hits and two earned runs to go with two strikeouts. Walsh (3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB) cleaned up the latter 3.2 innings, tossing three strikeouts.

Coming off a trip to the second round of last year’s state tournament — the program’s first since 2017, according to the WIAA — Snohomish is eager to build on that progress. Returning a significant number of contributors as well as Wheat, who spent the majority of last year on JV before homering in his first varsity game during the district playoffs, the Panthers have the tools to do so.

It’s early, but Walsh said he believes this year’s group is the best the team has looked in a long time. According to coach Nick Hammons, that comes from a combination of experience and character.

“I think there’s a lot of talent, but I think there’s so (many) good kids on this team,” Hammons said. “(…) And I think that bled through today at the end of the game. We just have a ton of guys that have been around and experienced it, and had a lot of success, and they just trusted that themselves and their teammates and their team were going to come through.”

For Kamiak, senior Jonah Swardstrom (3-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 R) and junior Jaxen Edwards (2-for-4, 1 R) led the bats, with Swardstrom putting the Knights ahead 5-4 with an RBI double in the fifth. Senior Cole Armstrong-Hoss started on the mound, allowing four runs over three innings.

Despite ending up in the loss column, Knights coach Bryce Cote felt encouraged seeing his team turn a 4-0 deficit into a 5-4 lead, and that the team executed well overall.

“We have a very good team, and Snohomish has a very good team,” Cote said. “We knew that going into it. We knew it was going to be a dog fight. Obviously, not easing into it, going into the first game. It was a really fun game. Gives us a lot of confidence. We did a lot of things really well: We played very good defense, very clean defense. And we grinded [sic] out at-bats. That’s what this team is going to have to do to win.”

After falling short in the District 1/2 4A quarterfinals last season, Kamiak comes back with a little less power in its lineup, but is much deeper across the board. After graduating 2025 Wesco 4A Co-MVP Andrew Fetty and fellow First-Teamer Elijah Bovey, among other key contributors from last year’s squad, the Knights expect to wear teams out as opposed to thriving on the long ball.

That appeared to be true on Wednesday, but not before Snohomish got to work.

After a base hit from Davisson with the bases loaded gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Wheat broke things open with a three-run blast to center in the third following a single from senior Chase Clark and a walk from junior Ethan Green.

It’s been a quick turnaround for Wheat and Opening Day starter Davis. Both played key roles in a landmark season for Snohomish boys basketball, which reached the District 1 3A title game and qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 2012. Just over two weeks after their season ended on the hardwood, the two players made immediate impacts on the diamond.

Wheat said he directed most of his focus on getting his swing ready, and he clearly knocked any rust off. Davis didn’t look any worse for wear either, tossing three shutout innings before Kamiak started to push back in the fourth.

“I’m a big believer in multi-sport athletes,” Hammons said. “A lot of things that they’re doing in basketball translates out to the baseball field, and vice versa. But they’re just competitors, and they just come out and they just compete, and it reflects on our team. You see, it’s more about the mentality they have when they come out here more than their mechanics and fundamentals.”

Senior Evan Keenan put the Knights on the board with an RBI double to center, scoring pinch-runner Luke Dutchin and Swardstrom to cut it to 4-2. Walsh took over on the mound, but Kamiak managed to cut it to 4-3 before the end of the inning when junior Reid Edwards reached on a throwing error and Keenan scored from third.

Following a clean inning in relief from senior Blake Fischer, the Knights tied it 4-4 on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Lucas Rudzinski following a leadoff triple from junior Caleb Morgan in the top of the fifth. Jaxen Edwards followed that with a double to center, and Swardstrom fought off an 0-2 count before ripping an RBI double to make it 5-4.

However, it didn’t take long for Wheat to tie things back up, and the Panthers retook the lead in the sixth after a swinging bunt from junior Griffin Triggs moved Walsh over to third, and Klein delivered an RBI single to score him with two outs.

“I thought it was great from our boys, from the first inning to the last, just hitting with runners in scoring position,” Klein said. “And to be able to get some to the outfield, whether it was no outs, one out or two outs.”

Walsh went back to the mound in the seventh with the mindset that the game was already over, and he backed that up by going three up, three down to seal the close victory.

It was a tough test to start the season for both teams, and while Snohomish walked away with the win, both sides displayed why they’ll be threats in each league.

“We came out, and started off hot and got some runs,” Wheat said. “And yeah, we worked our way through it and got it done.”