New Chapter in King’s Baseball: STATE SEMIFINALS
King’s Baseball is building a legacy, starting with its first ever State Tournament appearance last season. The success has reached a new peak this season, with the Knights securing its first ever State Semifinal appearance and guaranteed its first State trophy in program history with two dominant victories last Saturday.
The State Opening Round game featured the 6 seeded Lakeside Eagles from Spokane taking on the 11 seeded Knights. Sam Ruhlman took the hill for the Knights and continued to show his development as a top pitcher in the State, with a 6.2 innings and just 2 earned runs including 6 strikeouts. It was a promising start at the plate for the Knights, but two double plays in the first two innings kept the Knights off the scoreboard … for the time being. The empty innings for the Knights at the plate would not last long. As the innings progressed, so did the scoring, with 3 runs in the 3rd and 4 in the 4th thanks to RBI knocks from Koa Higashino and Knight Root, part of his 3 for 4 day at the plate. Nate Echelbarger and Sam Ruhlman contributed two hits of their own, totaling 14 for the Knights en route to their 8-2 victory. Each starter contributed a hit in the game and with Ruhlman’s pitching, the Knights would advance to face the 3 seeded Lynden Christian Lyncs in the State Quarterfinals later in the day.
It was a rematch of the first round in the Bi-District Tournament, the tournament champion Lyncs facing the underdog Knights. A great crowd greeted both teams on this Saturday afternoon with a spot in the State Tournament Semifinals on the line. It would be the Knights bats that showed up early, with a first inning run on the scoreboard to send the message that they came to play. King’s could only come up with one run through five innings as Brady Reiss was masterfull on the hill for the Knights, with King’s leading 1-0 after 5. Then came the top of the 6th … just in time for the lid to come off for the Knights offense. It was only a matter of time and the time was now, as every Knights batter got in on the action putting up 8 in the inning. The Lyncs got 2 back in the bottom half, but was not nearly enough as the Knights tallied 3 more in the top of the 7th and came away with the dominant 12-2 win. Nate Echelbarger and Jakob Fowler led the team at the plate with 3 hits and 2 RBI’s apiece. Knight Root had two hits of his own and once again each starter contributed a key hit to lead the Knights past the Lyncs. The development of Brady Reiss on the hill is a story to watch, having only started a few games all season, he threw 7 compete innings, giving up just 1 earned run, 5 strikeouts and no walks. This strong pitching performance came against a Lynden Christian team that had put up 7 or more runs in 10 of their season wins.
It was only a few weeks ago on May 9 that the Knights were 1 pitch away on a few occasions from not advancing to State and their season coming to a close. But the trust, confidence, and belief combined with the unlocked talent has the Knights on the doorstep of even more history.
Next Game: Friday, May 29 4pm vs Overlake-Bear Creek at Joe Martin Stadium (Bellingham)
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Winner plays in State Championship Saturday at 7pm, Loser plays Saturday 1pm in 3rd/4th Place game
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