Shorewood baseball keeps league title hopes alive

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, April 29, 2026

SHORELINE — Lukas Wanke rolled through five shutout innings for Shorewood baseball against Edmonds-Woodway at Meridian Park on Wednesday, but it came to a sudden end when the senior felt soreness in his elbow while facing his first batter of the sixth.

Without much notice, senior Max Rojas was thrust onto the mound, where he was allowed some extra time to warm up prior to the game resuming. It was not an ideal situation, but the righty was unfazed.

“I just come out every day kind of expecting it,” Rojas said. “Never have a doubt in my mind about myself. I know I can get people out with my stuff. I’ve done it before. I’ll keep doing it.”

Inheriting an 0-2 count, Rojas completed the strikeout on his first pitch before retiring the next two batters to send it to the bottom of the frame with Shorewood leading 2-0. Rojas returned to the mound for the top of the seventh, and despite walking one batter to give Edmonds-Woodway a chance to tie the game with one swing, he made the final batter swing and miss to secure the victory.

With the 2-0 win, the Stormrays (16-3, 10-1 league) handed the Warriors (15-5, 10-1 league) their first league loss of the season, and set up Friday’s regular-season finale as the deciding game for the Wesco South 3A/2A title.

Edmonds-Woodway is the three-time defending league champion, but Shorewood put itself one step closer to taking the crown this season.

“I thought it was pretty big,” senior Kanata Barber said. “Couldn’t do it last year on senior night, so it was nice to be able to do it this year with the boys.”

Remarkably, the Stormrays put together just two hits on Wednesday, both coming in the third inning. Instead, the pitchers shined for both sides. Wanke struck out five while allowing four hits and no walks through five innings, and Rojas struck out four over two hitless innings with one walk.

“Really good attacking the zone. We had one walk,” Shorewood coach Ben Andrews said about his pitchers. “(Wanke) has three pitches, four pitches that he can locate in the zone and speed up bats, slow down bats, so I mean, whenever you face him, it’s a pretty tough (at-bat).”

For the Warriors, senior Finn Crawford did just about all he could from the mound, allowing just two hits and one earned run while striking out eight and walking three. Edmonds-Woodway came up empty in run support, but has an opportunity to regroup with another shot at clinching the title on home turf.

“They got a big hit in a timely situation, and we did not early in the game,” Warriors coach Dan Somoza said. “We had our chance early and we didn’t get it, and they’re a really good team. I think we are too, but it’s whoever scores that first run is a big part of the game, especially with two good pitchers going.”

Indeed, Edmonds-Woodway had a prime opportunity to strike first when seniors Toshi Gilginas and Cruz Escandon led off the top of the first with back-to-back singles. Senior Trevelyan Podawiltz bunted the two over to second and third, but Wanke dialed in and struck out each of the next two batters to strand the runners.

Crawford went 1-2-3 on the mound in the first inning, but had a runner reach third on a balk with one out in the second. Like Wanke did the inning prior, Crawford struck out the next two batters to escape the frame.

Senior Finn Bachler got Shorewood’s first hit of the game from the nine-hole with a single to right field in the bottom of the third. Barber brought him home with a double to center two batters later, giving the Stormrays a 1-0 lead.

“I was just excited to be there,” Barber said. “I know anyone on the team could have done it, but given an opportunity, (I) just wanted to capitalize and jump on a good pitch, so he threw me a fastball and (I) just got in front of it, got a barrel to it.”

Each starter got into a groove in the fourth, going 1-2-3 to keep the score at 1-0, but Shorewood capitalized on a fielding error in the fifth to add an insurance run.

Senior Cameron Falk got on base with a walk, then stole second. Fellow senior Lorenzo Jaramillo fouled off two pitches before grounding one to second base, but the error allowed him to reach safely as Falk ran around to slide in at home before the throw.

“We’ve talked about it all year, man. Just (put) balls in play when runners are in scoring position,” Andrews said. “Doing a good job with two strikes to get it in play, you can make things happen at the high school level. So (Jaramillo) almost had one earlier in the game that could have extended (the third) inning, and then he did have the one that (Falk) was very heads-up coming around third. … It’s just that kind of ‘always ready’ mindset from everybody.”

Rojas took over for Wanke in the following frame, and while junior Danny Morgan worked a walk and reached second for the Stormrays in the bottom of the sixth, Crawford struck out the next two batters to preserve the two-run deficit and send it to the seventh.

Rojas fought back from a 3-0 count to strike out the first batter he faced in the seventh, then got the next batter to fly out before allowing Shorewood’s only walk of the game to Warriors senior Erik Alsdorf. Locked in only at home plate, Rojas tossed two strikes before Alsdorf stole second. Morgan, the catcher, went to have a quick chat with Rojas on the mound. Both knew they just needed one strike to end the game.

Sure enough, Rojas got the last batter to whiff for the final strikeout.

“I always look to strike out,” Rojas said. “I was just trying to pitch a strikeout. I didn’t really care about the runner on first, I knew the out at home was way more important. Just came out calm, didn’t stress at all.”

It secured an important win for the Stormrays, but the job is not finished for either side.

“I think our approach is always the same,” Andrews said. “We have a very dominant staff on the mound, so it’s always get ahead, throw strikes, let our defense work behind you.”

Added Somoza: “Friday’s Senior Day at our place, and we think we’ll play really well, so we’re excited about it. To play for something on the last day of the regular season is always fun, so it’ll be a great day of baseball. We’re looking forward to it.”