WOODINVILLE — Everything was going as well as it could for Stanwood baseball against Mount Vernon in the District 1 3A Championship on Saturday.
Wanting to get the jump on the top-seeded Bulldogs, led by 2025 MLB Draft prospect Xavier Neyens, Stanwood’s first three batters reached base. RBI singles from TJ McQuery, Gavin Gehrman and Connor Clifton put the Spartans ahead 3-0 in the top of the first.
On the mound, McQuery was perfect through two innings. Six up, six down.
“I was throwing good,” McQuery said. “I was pumping the zone. That’s what it really was. … It was tough in the rain, but I was just really pumping the zone, trying to stay loose.”
Then, disaster.
The Bulldogs (21-3) scored five runs in the bottom of the third en route to a 7-4 victory, snatching the District 1 3A crown away from the Spartans (16-8).
It started with McQuery walking Mount Vernon’s first two batters to start the frame. The Panthers recovered to get two quick outs, including getting the force out at third on Moises Lucatero’s bunt attempt, but Stanwood coach Matt Brennan decided to intentionally walk the dangerous Neyens to load the bases.
It was on Dylan Jacobs to bring the Bulldogs back into the game, and he did it with one swing.
A double to center field brought in two runs, and a botched throw to third base that rolled into the outfield allowed Neyens to go home and tie it 3-3.
After such a strong start, McQuery (2.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP; 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI) allowed consecutive RBI hits to the next two batters, Brady Collins and Bode Webb, then hit Reece Roberts with a pitch. With Stanwood down 5-3 just as quickly as they went up 3-0, Brennan made a switch on the mound. Cullen Maloney (3.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP; 0-for-2) got the final out to stop the bleeding.
“Walks will always come back to get you,” Brennan said. “I think TJ just got a little tired there. … When they start hitting you, you try and get cute, you try and get real precise, and then that’s when they really jump on you.”
While discouraged by the blown lead, the Spartans never stopped fighting. Stanwood put at least one runner on base in each of the next four innings, but the attempts to bring them across the plate fell flat.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs slowly added insurance. Neyens hit an RBI groundout in the fourth inning, and after Mount Vernon starting pitcher Brody Olmsted led off the seventh with a triple, Kaiden Anderson pushed him home with a bloop RBI single to make it 7-3.
In their last chance, Stanwood loaded the bases. Tanner Requa (2-for-3, 1 R) worked a full-count walk, and Luke Brennan (0-for-2, 1 R) also took a base on balls right behind him. A McQuery single set up Gehrman (2-for-4, 2 RBI) as the tying run at the plate. Just as Jacobs had the chance to tie the game with a single swing, Gehrman did this time around.
He made contact, but grounded into a 4-3 fielder’s choice. A run scored, but Jaxson Beard (0-for-3) struck out in the next at-bat to end the game.
“Stuff happens,” Gehrman said. “We got guys on and tried to get them around. (We) take advantage of the walks that we got, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.”
There are no moral victories in championship games, especially after seeing a lead slip, but with the state tournament still ahead, Brennan believes his team should feel confident.
“We’re a team that can hang with that team (Mount Vernon),” Brennan said. “I really take that into state thinking that, ‘You know what, we belong there.’ And teams should be scared of us.”
As the steady drizzle picked up into a heavy pour at Woodinville High School, the Spartans gathered behind the dugout. Cheers from Mount Vernon, still huddled on the field, were heard loud and clear.
“I think it’s going to fuel us,” Gehrman said.
Said McQuery: “Watching them win makes you want to win.”
Stanwood will get their chance as early as Tuesday.
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