Snohomish baseball rolls Terrace in district quarters

Published 5:53 pm Saturday, May 9, 2026

SNOHOMISH — Reve LeRoux’s walk-up song is Metro Boomin and Gunna’s “Space Cadet.”

The senior says the instrumental beginning of the 2018 hit song calms him down, and has become a fan favorite of sorts since his freshman season.

Attribute it to those same steadied nerves or fate, but LeRoux had all the makings of the song’s namesake when he nearly sent a second-inning two-out pitch into orbit to put the No. 2 Snohomish baseball team up 7-0 during Saturday’s district quarterfinal win over No. 10 Mountlake Terrace. The ball cleared the tall left-field wall at Snohomish High School handily to highlight what turned into a 9-3 Snohomish victory.

Stunningly enough, it was also LeRoux’s first homer in a four-year high-school career.

“Perfect time to do it,” LeRoux said of the timely long ball postgame. “That was the best I’ve ever felt hitting a ball, and watching that thing fly, I knew it was gone. So I took my time and admired it.”

By head coach Nick Hammons’ account, it was just Snohomish’s second home run of the season and the first time the Panthers cleared that wall at the 290-foot mark in a game this season.

The win advanced the Snohomish (17-4 overall) to Tuesday’s District 1 3A Tournament semifinal against No. 3 Edmonds-Woodway for a spot in the state tournament.

Snohomish put the pressure on early, scoring seven in the first two frames as Rider Walsh (1-for-3, 2 runs, 3 RBI) cleared the loaded bases with a two-out double in the second, only to be brought home immediately on LeRoux’s (1-for-2, run, 2 RBI) hefty homer.

Junior pitcher Trevor Vorderbruggen was dominant in a six-inning start for Snohomish, striking out five while allowing two hits and two walks to go with one run.

Landon Klein finished 2-for-3 with two runs and two stolen bases, while Breckin Davisson scored a run, stole a base and brought another run in.

In all, Snohomish finished with four extra-base hits as Deyton Wheat (1-for-2, run, RBI) and Ethan Green (1-for-2, 2 runs) joined Walsh in doubling.

Mountlake Terrace (11-13) dropped to the consolation bracket, where it will face No. 6 Stanwood on Tuesday. The Hawks now need two straight wins to secure a spot at state.

Liam Moore (1-for-2, run) doubled while Jack Gripentrog (RBI) and Will VanDeMark also scored. The Hawks managed a two-run rally in the seventh and loaded the bases, but a 9-1 hole proved too much to bounce back from.

“I think it was something we needed to see,” Terrace head coach Ryan Sells said of the rally attempt. “Down 9-1, it’s definitely a punch in the face right away, but I think being able to see our guys fight through a little bit of adversity… was what we needed to see going into Tuesday.”

The Hawks were coming off a 4-3 loser-out game against Sedro-Woolley on Thursday. But their Saturday starter, Owen Meek, threw 92 pitches and eight Ks in their prior loser-out game against No. 11 Meadowdale, a 3-1 win on Tuesday.

With Meek back on the bump so soon, the Panthers forced the issue by scoring two first-inning runs. Sells was forced to go to his bullpen by the second frame.

Breckin Davisson was the star of that opening inning for Snohomish, stealing a base before scoring from third on a wild pitch. Senior Luke Davis (RBI) then scored Walsh on a sacrifice fly to double the first-inning lead at 2-0.

Vorderbruggen bounced back from an up-and-down first frame with a double play and a strikeout to retire the Mountlake Terrace side in the second. That second inning saw those two massive two-out cuts from Walsh and LeRoux, something Snohomish head coach Nick Hammons has come to expect from a team that made its first State appearance since 2017 last season.

When it was clear that LeRoux had just hit his first career homer in a postseason game, Hammons described a screaming Panthers dugout as “electric.”

“One thing the opponent notices is when everybody’s up in the dugout, and they’re rallying around each other,” Hammons said. “It lets them know that, hey, we’re ready to play today.”

The Panthers scored in each of the first three innings, but Mountlake Terrace reliever Layton Rongholt bounced back from six runs in his first two innings pitched with two scoreless frames and a strikeout to keep Mountlake Terrace out of run-rule territory heading into the sixth.

Gripentrog got the Hawks on the board by scoring on a wild pitch in the sixth to make it 8-1, but Davisson responded by scoring Klein from third after Klein stole two bases to get there.

The top of the seventh was Mountlake Terrace’s last chance at a miracle, and Moore doubled to start it. After two straight Ks from Snohomish closer Blake Smith (0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K), an error on a would-be game-ending flyout kept the Hawks in it with a Moore score with the bases loaded.

VanDeMark then scored off a bases-loaded walk as the home fans started to stir. LeRoux entered the game for the final out on the mound, and second baseman Dillon Syria made a running catch on a lineout to end the game. The win was the Panthers’ sixth straight.

Their last loss was an 8-2 blowout at Mountlake Terrace as Hammons’ team knew better than to overlook the Hawks, who are searching for their first State appearance since 2024.

“We knew we were facing somebody that we should’ve beat the last time we played them. So the guys were already motivated with the playoffs, but that on top of it took it to the next level,” Hammons said.

Winning on Tuesday would mean a great deal for a Snohomish squad with seven seniors, as the squad could reach State in consecutive years after an eight-year drought. Snohomish was eliminated in the second round of the 2025 state tournament as the No. 14 seed.

“This was our expectation,” Hammons said of Snohomish’s achievements thus far. “All year our expectation was to make the state tournament, make some noise… we’re doing something right now that we talked about at the start of the year and the off-season. And now, it’s coming to fruition.”