Jackson primed for state title bid

MILL CREEK — When Travis Snider looks at Jackson he sees much more than a team that finished third at the Class 4A state baseball tournament last season.

The Wolfpack senior standout remembers the years he played Little League with many of his current teammates.

“Half of the same faces that I used to play with back then … are still on this team,” said Snider, who is regarded as one of the top high school prospects in the nation.

Snider also sees a group of players whose work ethic and love of the game are unparalleled.

Since last January, Snider and his teammates have been sharpening their skills at informal captains’ practices.

“Everyone’s been dedicated,” Snider said. “It’s like a family. Every kid on this team has each other’s back until the day we’re done.”

Snider hopes that day will conclude with Jackson winning its first state baseball championship in late May at Safeco Field.

The goal of the Timberwolves since Jan. 1 has been a state title and with all but one player back from a year ago and the addition of a talented transfer, the Wolfpack is understandably the odds-on Class 4A favorite.

“We have all the tools we need to go all the way and win a state championship,” senior co-captain Joseph Lind said. “We just need to stay together and overcome the adversity that’s going to try to get in our way of winning the championship. I’m not going to be happy with anything less than first.”

Jackson had drawn national attention with its seventh place ranking in Baseball America magazine’s top 25 high schools poll. Snider also has been tabbed as the 27th top player in the country by the same publication.

Snider expects that the Wolfpack’s deep talent pool will draw plenty of attention from college and professional scouts. With the extra attention comes added pressure.

“We feel that we wouldn’t want it any other way,” Snider said.

Many of the Timberwolves also play with the high-profile Seattle Stars baseball team, a team that has won national championships.

“The last few summers guys have been playing in front of these types of people (scouts),” Snider said. “We’re just going to go out there and focus on playing Jackson baseball and forget about who’s in the stands and just focus every day on our goal of getting better and getting the W.”

The biggest change this season is on the bench with the arrival of new head coach Allan Briggs. Longtime coach Kirk Nicholson, who had helmed the team since the school opened, is a volunteer assistant with the team.

Nicholson, an assistant football coach at Jackson, suffered a leg injury during last fall’s season and only recently returned to work at the school on modified duty. Nicholson hopes to return as head baseball coach next year.

The players are taking the change in stride.

“Nothing much has changed,” Lind said. “He (Nicholson) will be there every game. It’s not that much different.”

Briggs coached for eight years at Meadowdale High School, four years as the junior varsity coach and four as a varsity assistant to former head coach Ron Martin.

“To maintain continuity I thought it was wise to keep him on the bench,” Briggs said of Nicholson. “The players know him. He knows the players and he’s a great coach. He knows a lot about the game. I thought it would be great to keep him with us.”

Briggs had been hired to be the junior varsity coach but then was tapped to take over the varsity team about a week before practices started.

Never in his wildest dreams did Briggs think he would preside over a team as talented as Jackson.

In many ways, the Timberwolves remind Briggs of the 1980 Meadowdale team, which was ranked fifth in the nation and won a state championship.

Jackson has depth in every position and the pitching staff is just as stacked, Briggs said.

Just how deep is the Wolfpack’s pitching staff?

“You always want to stay humble. You never want to be overconfident in what you have,” Briggs said. “But I believe we have five to six outstanding pitchers.”

The No. 1 and 2 slots will be filled by senior Cameron Nobles and Kamiak transfer Geoffrey Brown. Both pitchers throw in the 90s.

Junior Kawika Emsley-Pai and senior Joey Petosa will battle it out for the No. 3 and 4 roles. Emsley-Pai was a first-team, all-league pitcher last year.

“To have our No. 3 or 4 pitcher be first-team all-Wesco shows that we have some depth,” Petosa said.

Petosa missed all of last season after suffering an ACL injury during the first game of the regular season. It was extremely difficult for Petosa to have to sit on the bench all last year.

“It just makes this season for me so much more important, so much more exciting to get out there and play,” said Petosa, who will platoon at shortstop with senior Marc Schuermeyer. “It’s made me work so much harder in the offseason. I only have one more chance to prove myself.”

Nobles, Brown and Emsley-Pai are more power pitchers, while Petosa is an off-speed specialist.

“Joey will come in there and throw everyone off with his offspeed stuff,” Lind said. “He’s got a real nasty change-up and splitter.”

Should any of the starters falter, Briggs can call on several players, including Lind, basketball player Joe Markovich, junior Mike Jeffery, senior Jon Wahl and sophomore Danny Oh.

“We’ve got guys who’ve been in all types of situations, playoff situations,” Nicholson said. “I think we’re pretty confident in one through seven.”

The Timberwolves’ lineup at the plate is equally imposing. From top to bottom there isn’t a weak link.

That comes as no surprise to Briggs, who noted that the players spend a lot of extra time in the batting cages.

“The one thing about this group is we practice. Then after practice they’ll go and hit some more,” Briggs said. “These guys are getting a lot of cuts. I’m looking forward to seeing them pull it together as a team and putting some big innings together.”

The six, seven and eight hitters in the Jackson lineup would be the two, three and four hitters on another high school team, Petosa said.

“It’s just stacked all the way through,” he said. “We have power hitters. Everyone hits for average on the team.”

Senior Curt Nelson had a home run in Jackson’s 3-1 non-conference opener over Lake Washington last week. Petosa also stroked a two-run double. In a 4-3 win over Western Conference North Division rival Cascade, Wahl went two-for-two with a double and two runs, while Snider had a triple.

“Once the bats start clicking we should be putting up good numbers every day,” Snider said.

The players work hard to bring out the best in each other by challenging each other.

In the offseason, many of them played basketball to keep in shape. The competition was pretty heated.

“We’re always together,” Petosa said. “We’re always pushing each other. We’re all working out together. We’re members at L.A. Fitness. We’re all getting on each other if we’re not down there.

“We all know each other’s talents .. we all can help each other out. It’s a good environment to be around.”

Jackson’s talent isn’t limited to the starting nine. The competition within the team is fierce and in the end can only benefit the Wolfpack.

“You can’t ask for anything better to have guys out there pushing each other to get better,” Snider said.

On paper, Jackson looks to be extremely tough to beat, but Briggs tries not to pay much attention to rankings.

“Baseball games are played on baseball fields not on paper,” he said. “It’s been a nice tribute to the team to have them ranked so high in the nation. But we know we’ve got to get it done on the field. That will be probably our biggest challenge — making sure that we play as a group all year and play together and not try to do too much individually.”

The players seem to understand this.

Jackson will be playing with what amounts to a target on its back as every opponent will be looking to make a statement against the Timberwolves.

“Everybody is going to be gunning for us,” Lind said. “We’ve just got to be ready for everyone and know that we can be beat in any game. We’ve got to come out and play and not take anyone for granted.”

Nicholson welcomes the challenge.

“I would hope everyone comes out and wants to play us hard,” he said. “That only makes us better.”

Snider is understandably excited about the prospect of a professional baseball career. Should he decide not to turn professional he has verbally committed to Arizona State.

But the focus for Snider isn’t on his post-high school plans. It’s on winning a state championship and enjoying his senior year.

“We’re just going to go out there and have fun,” Snider said. “That’s my focus this year. It’s not to get drafted whenever in June. It’s to end up in May with a state championship. The whole pro thing is exciting but at this point I’m trying to focus on my last year of high school baseball.”

“It’s going to be exciting just to be able to go out there with such good friends and such good talent and just go out there and play our game and just see what happens.”