MUKILTEO – The Edmonds-Woodway baseball team earned a little payback Monday at Kamiak High School.
The payback came in the form of the Western Conference South Division title.
Warriors pitcher Reed Brown threw five shutout innings in the Warriors’ 9-5 victory over Kamiak as E-W earned the division’s top playoff seed with one game remaining in the regular season for each team. Kamiak accomplished the same feat on E-W’s field last season. This time around, the Warriors used a gem from Brown and a potent offense that threatened to put the 10-run rule into effect.
“It was nice to get it here,” said Brown, who exited the game after throwing 92 pitches and with his team leading 9-0 after five innings. “They got us at our park last year. Not so much for revenge, but they’re a good team and it was nice to get the first one out of the way.”
The Warriors (15-2 in the division, 17-2 overall) play the North Division’s No. 4 team Saturday at 1 p.m. in the first round of the Northwest District playoffs. Kamiak (13-4, 14-5) faces the North No. 3, also Saturday at 1 p.m. The top two teams from the district qualify for the regional tournament.
The Warriors were glad to be heading into today’s game against the Knights with the places decided. Kamiak would have gone with ace Brian Ouellette today with a division title on the line, but now will likely save him for Saturday.
“We weren’t looking forward to trying to come out and beat Ouellette,” E-W coach Joe Webster said. “He’s been a great pitcher this year and through his whole career. Had we not won today, the advantage would’ve been with them. They would’ve had the momentum coming off of today and their best kid on the hill.”
Edmonds-Woodway began the game with three straight hits off of Kamiak starter Adam St. Clair, who pitched a two-hit shutout against Everett last Tuesday and earned a save in a relief appearance on Friday.
Derek Lange and Mark Gegax each drove in a run for the Warriors in the first inning. One of Kamiak’s five errors provided a third E-W run in the frame. Gegax, who finished the game 4-for-5, drove in another run in the second. The Warriors tacked on three more runs in the fourth – two of them via a two-run double from cleanup hitter Jake Beattiger – and pushed the lead to 9-0 in the fifth.
Kamiak coach Steve Merkley said having St. Clair pitch for the third time in a week may have been a bit much to ask. St. Clair, a junior, allowed seven runs (five earned) in four innings.
“His arm was tired,” Merkley said. “We probably used him up. … We thought we could get another start out of him, but he didn’t have his pop.”
The game nearly had a chance to be called after five innings, but the Warriors’ potential 10th run was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Jesse Wight for the third out. Wight finished the game 2-for-3 and scored two runs as the Knights attempted to rally in the final two innings. Ouellette, who played left field on Monday, finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
Kamiak managed eight hits, three of them off of Brown, who struck out six while improving to 7-1. E-W first baseman Andrew Hutt, who pitched the final two innings for E-W, went 2-for-3 as part of the Warriors’ 12-hit attack.
At Mukilteo
E-Woodway3103200-9121
Kamiak0000032-585
Brown, Hutt (7) and Torgerson. St. Clair, Russell (5) and Matthews. WP-Brown (7-1). LP-St. Clair (5-1). 2B-Lange (E-W), Beattiger (E-W), Dwyer (E-W), Wight (K), Matthews (K), Ouellette (K). Records-Edmonds-Woodway 15-2 in division, 17-2 overall. Kamiak 13-4, 14-5.
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