EVERETT — Three batters was all it took for the Jackson baseball team to know that the rout was on.
Juniors Jon Wahl and Kawika Emsley-Pai each stroked crisp singles to right field in the top of the first inning against South Kitsap.
Senior Travis Snider then stepped to the plate and with the count 2-1 smacked a mammoth home run over the center field wall to punctuate what would turn out to be a six-run inning as the Timberwolves went on to crush the Wolves 18-0 in a Class 4A state quarterfinal game May 20 at Everett Memorial Stadium.
When the contest ended, the Wolfpack had battered South Kitsap for 22 hits, while Jackson starting pitchers Cam Nobles and Joey Petosa allowed only one hit.
“We just knew right from the git go we were going to have a day at the plate,” said Petosa, who was 3-for-5 with six RBI. “It was good everyone was seeing the pitches well. I think everyone thought the ball looked like a big volleyball.”
Snider set a school single- season record for home runs (11) with his first-inning blast and ended what he described as a bit of a slump.
“It was one of those swings you don’t really remember,” said Snider, who was 3-for-3 with three runs and four RBI. “It’s probably been five or six games since I’ve really gotten a hold of one … it was nice to kind of break out the right way.”
The Jackson senior right fielder, who is expected to be a first- or second-round selection in next month’s major league baseball draft, didn’t have much of an opportunity to demonstrate his offensive skills in the Wolfpack’s 5-3 victory over Lake Washington in a first-round state game earlier in the day. Snider was walked three times (two of which were intentional) and also was hit by a pitch.
Jackson (25-0) advanced to the state semifinals for the second straight year. The Wolfpack take on Tahoma at 7 p.m. tonight (Friday, May 26) at Safeco Field. The winner then faces the winner of Auburn/Kentwood at 7 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, May 27) in the championship game.
The opportunity to play at Safeco Field is a dream come true for the players, but the overriding feeling among the Timberwolves is that they are on a mission to win the state championship that eluded them last year. Jackson lost in the semifinals and placed third in 2005.
“We’ll feel a lot better though if we end up doing something we didn’t do last year,” Snider said. “So we’re not going to get too satisfied. It feels good to have done what we’ve done so far, but our eyes are still on the prize.
“The atmosphere down there and the field are amazing … it would be nice to say that we played at Safeco, but we want to do it the right way.”
While one-sided victories are nothing new for Jackson, the Wolfpack faced quite a different challenge in its first- round game against highly regarded Lake Washington.
The Timberwolves took a 5-1 lead into the top of the seventh inning and then saw the Kangaroos rally for two runs and load the bases before the rally was quelled.
Jackson starter Geoff Brown was lifted for Emsley-Pai after he surrendered a leadoff home run to Lake Washington’s Will McKenney. After a walk, Emsley-Pai retired the next two batters. But two infield singles and another walk resulted in another Kangaroo run and left the bases loaded for Lake Washington’s Kurt Haakenstad.
With the count 2-2, Emsley-Pai forced Haakenstad to pop out to third baseman Chris Lynch to end the game.
Jackson senior Curt Nelson was 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBI and senior Joey Lind drove in two RBI. Snider scored two runs.
Having to play in a close game was useful for Jackson, Petosa said.
“The next two games there’s a good chance we’re going to be in that situation,” he said. “It’s been real beneficial to us.”
Heading into last weekend’s state tournament coach Alan Briggs was hoping his team would score a lot of runs and put some pressure on its opponent. His hopes were finally realized in the state quarterfinal game.
Jackson got its hits but didn’t score in a lot of innings in the district tournament, Briggs said. The players decided to take extra batting practice as a result.
“Today they weren’t as tight at the plate and it paid off in that second game,” Briggs said. “The bats erupted … the motto today, I told them all day, is ‘Get ahead and stay ahead.’ That was really our focus today. We don’t get behind. We don’t have to play catch up. Everybody contributed in that second game. That is an ideal situation for a coach — to get the whole team in.”
Senior Joe Markovich was 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Senior reserve first baseman Matt Ojala hit a home run. Starting pitcher Cam Nobles allowed only one hit and struck out 10 in five innings of work.
While Jackson’s offense took center stage, the Wolfpack were quick to credit the strong performances by both of their starting pitchers — Brown and Nobles.
“When you have pitchers like that you can relax a lot more,” Emsley-Pai said. “A lot of teams press too much too early. We just relax and play our game. We know we can swing the bats, so we do what we do and let them do what they do.”
Playing in the state semifinals and possibly the finals will have an extra special meaning for Petosa, who missed all of last year after suffering an ACL injury.
He is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to play on what he regards as the nicest baseball field in the world.
“I don’t think there’s any better stadium than Safeco,” Petosa said. “Me and our second baseman Curt Nelson, we’ve been talking about how awesome it’s going to be taking the pregame and just taking ground balls on that field.”
The Timberwolves have worked long and hard to return to the state semifinals and they are looking forward to finishing the job they started last year, Emsley-Pai said.
“There will be a lot of people there, a lot of friends and family,” he said. “I’m really excited to get out there and play in front of them and show the state of Washington what kind of baseball team we have at Jackson High School.”
NOTES
PLAYER OF YEAR: Jackson’s Travis Snider has been named the Washington State Baseball Player of the Year by Gatorade.
Snider, a senior outfielder, is hitting .526 with a school-record 11 home runs for the Timberwolves, who are ranked No. 2 nationally by Baseball America magazine.
Snider was a preseason All-America selection by Baseball America. He has signed an NCAA letter of intent to play for Arizona State University next season.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Though Jackson senior Travis Snider didn’t have much of a chance to hit against Lake Washington, he took it all in stride.
In four plate appearances in the first-round state game, Snider drew three walks (two intentional) and was hit by a pitch.
“It’s been happening my whole life,” Snider said. “If I was the coach I’d do the same thing. I can’t think twice about what his decisions were today.”
Snider finally got to swing the bat against South Kitsap in the regional championship. In the first inning, he hit a home run to center field. Snider was 3-for-3 with three runs and three RBI.
“They were just pitching around me and did a good job of not letting me swing it in the first game,” Snider said. “I got to break out a little bit in the second game.”
FOLLOWING THE BABE: Jackson senior Travis Snider was among the many individuals who heard the public address announcer mention that San Francisco’s Barry Bonds had just tied Babe Ruth’s 714-home run record.
That bit of information helped motivate Snider, who hit a first-inning home run, his 11th of the season, to break the school record previously held by Brent Lillibridge.
“I heard over the PA that he (Bonds) broke it,” Snider said. “I said, ‘Man, I’ve got do it myself.’”
LARGER STAGE: A year ago, first-year Jackson coach Alan Briggs was coaching in Mill Creek Little League.
This weekend he is leading undefeated Jackson into the final four at Safeco Field
Earlier this year, Briggs was hired as Jackson’s junior varsity coach. He later was elevated to varsity coach when Kirk Nicholson was sidelined with an injury suffered during the football season.
“It’s a dream come true,” Briggs said of Jackson’s undefeated season. “This has already been a storybook season so far as far as everything that we’ve been able to do so far … the first day of practice I got all the guys together and put our goals. At the top of the goal was win the Washington State 4A baseball championship game at Safeco Field.
“It means a lot to get there. It’s one thing to talk about it. It’s another thing to come out and do it.”
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