Mountlake Terrace upended by Auburn

  • Tony Dondero<br>For the Enterprise
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 11:32am

KENT — Mountlake Terrace’s postseason run came to an end with a 6-1 loss to Auburn in the 4A Region II state baseball playoffs May 20 at Kent Memorial Park.

The Hawks, who beat higher seeds Monroe and Kamiak in the District 1 playoffs to qualify to state, never could get over the hump on offense against Auburn.

Mountlake Terrace stranded nine runners on base, including six in the first three innings, and didn’t score until the bottom of the seventh inning.

Meanwhile, Auburn capitalized on its opportunities, scoring three runs in the second, one in the fifth and two in the sixth.

“They got the clutch hits, early in the game and we did not get the clutch hits when we had base runners on. That was the difference in the game I think,” Mountlake Terrace coach Andrew Watters said.

Auburn third baseman David Olson delivered the first blow, a solo home run to center field in the second inning.

“They hit some good pitches,” said Hawks’ starter Andrew Knudsen. “The home run was a pitcher’s pitch down and in and he just got barrel on it and hit it out.

The Trojans added a pair of two-out runs on RBI singles by left fielder Micky Sherrill and pitcher Cam Christian.

“They were hitting my outside fastball and poking it through the holes,” said Knudson, who gave up 10 hits and six runs, four of them earned in 52/3 innings. “They’re a good hitting team.”

The Hawks committed two errors that inning that allowed runners to move along. Errors in the fifth and sixth also proved costly. Auburn’s Kellan Killsgaard scored on a errant throw home in the fifth. After doubling to lead off the sixth, Matt Gomes scored on another bad throw.

“We can’t make mistakes like we were making today and think we could come out and win,” Knudsen said.

Auburn scored its final run on an RBI single by Troy Scott in the sixth.

Mountlake Terrace showed some life in the bottom of the seventh but it was too little too late.

Kyle McGuire bunted for a base hit and Knudsen drove him in with a single down the right field line. But Auburn’s Olson, who relieved starter Christian in the seventh, got Blair Haverstraw to line out to shortstop and coaxed a groundout from Garrett Totten to the mound to end the game.

Auburn came in the game 21-3 and ranked ninth in state 4A Washington State Coaches Association poll.

Christian gave up six hits in six shutout innings, while walking three and striking out seven.

Mountlake Terrace finished the season 12-12 overall.

“We knew the whole season that we were a good team and we were good enough to make it here,” Knudsen. “We just had to come out and prove it. We did that. We lost some tough games at the end season but we knew that in most of the games at the end we could beat the teams that we lost to. Our record didn’t show really what kind of team we were.”

Watters said the season turned into a special one for the seniors and gives the underclassmen something to build on for next year.

“We kept kind of progressing through the season,” he said. “We had a lot of ups and downs but I think we gained confidence from our ups and learned a lot when we were down. It really came together in that district tournament. Our group really played flawless to get here … This was a great run and I think it’s going to give us confidence for young players for next year.”

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