Sunday, May. 24, 2009

Bombers earn trip to Safeco

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

RICHLAND — Most high school baseball players can only dream about what it would be like to play at Safeco Field.

For the Richland Bombers, it's getting tough to imagine any other way to end the season.

The Bombers locked up a third straight berth in the 4A semifinals -- along with their annual rite of passage that is the Safeco experience -- with a convincing 10-4 victory over University of Spokane in the state quarterfinals Saturday.

But securing another trip to Seattle was only partial motivation for the Richland players, who made sure nobody celebrated on Bomber Field except ... well ... the Bombers.

"We saw (University) celebrating after their first game," Richland senior shortstop Brett Jacobs said of U-Hi's 4-3 win over Kamiakin earlier in the day. "No one celebrates on our field. We were going to take care of business."

Richland is the first 4A team to go to three straight semifinals since Federal Way did so from 2001-03.

But a day that saw the extension of one baseball legacy saw the close of another, with Rex Easley coaching his last game after 34 years at Kamiakin.

"I love you guys," an emotional Easley told his team after their eight-inning loss to U-Hi.

"It's been great," said longtime Braves pitching coach Phil Jones, who also will retire. "He's a great guy."

Richland (22-2) will play Newport (16-9) at 4 p.m. Friday in the first 4A semifinal, with Tahoma (21-2) and Puyallup (20-3) playing in the 7 p.m. contest.

"It's a big relief -- what we've worked for all year long," said Richland's Cody Shepherd, who was a horse on the mound against U-Hi.

He threw 116 pitches and worked around seven hits, a walk and two hit batters by striking out eight. And he was lights out after giving up a two-run bomb in the fifth inning to Titans slugger Billy Moon.

That shot pulled the Spokane school within 7-4 after the Bombers had jumped out to a six-run lead in two innings. But after hitting the next batter, Shepherd set down nine straight, four on strikeouts, with his most efficient innings.

"The whole game, I was trying to find a rhythm," said Shepherd, a warm-weather pitcher who appreciated the hot day. "After Moon hit that home run, I really tried to speed things up, and it worked."

It didn't hurt that University (22-4) played its worst game of the season with an incredible nine errors, including four in the bottom of the fifth when Richland scored three runs to kill the Titans' rally.

"Against Richland you can't do that," said U-Hi coach Scott Sutherland, whose team got away with giving Kamiakin four extra outs in their game. "We're very disappointed right now."

Make no mistake -- the Bombers did their fare share of hitting against Moon, who was coming off a sterling 120-pitch, eight-inning win over Southridge on Tuesday. But multiple errors played a key part in each of their outbursts.

Richland didn't get near that kind of help from Kamiak (15-9) in its 6-3 win in the morning. Instead, it was Kyle Stumetz who provided major relief, throwing four big innings and giving up a single run after starter Stinson Ott ran into some control problems.

For Stumetz, who had thrown just a single inning in the last two weeks, it took a few pitches -- three straight balls to the first batter he faced -- to get in a grove.

"I was a little shaky in that first inning," he said, "then I found my stuff, good enough to win. Keep it close and wait for the offense."

It came in the sixth, a two-run shot from Jacobs that provided the Bombers three runs of breathing room and gave Jacobs a share of the team record for career home runs, matching the 24 that Grant Richardson hit from 1999-2001.

Dan Jacobs, Brett's cousin, went 3-for-4 in the game, and Jamison Rowe generated the tying run in the fourth with a walk and a stolen base, moving up to third on an errant throw from the catcher and then coming home on a wild pitch.

Kamiakin (15-11) had every right to feel it should have been the team facing Richland in the quarterfinals. For the third time this postseason, the Braves out-hit an opposing team and were spotted four errors, and couldn't come through with a win.

Kody Young battled through all eight innings, working around five walks and seven hits while striking out nine.

The Braves seemed to take charge in the sixth, going up 2-1 on Devan Willis' solo home run. But the Titans came back with a pair in the bottom of the inning. In the seventh, Nolan Sportelli pinch-hit in the nine hole and drilled the third pitch he saw over the center-field fence to tie the game.

But U-Hi pulled out the win on a rally started by Moon, the Greater Spokane League MVP who went 3-for-4 in the game and 6-for-8 on the afternoon.

"They beat us at the end," Easley said. "We had opportunities to score. Kody threw a hell of a game. We pinch hit a guy and he hits a home run.

"It's just one of those things."

It was a remarkable run for the Braves, who finished just shy of the state final four for the third straight year despite starting the season with only a handful of experienced players.

"We're proud," said Young, "but we're not real happy right now. We just wanted to win, that's all."

University 000 220 0 — 4 7 9
Richland 240 130 x — 10 11 1
Billy Moon, Jon Rapose (6) and Craig Keeton; Cody Shepherd and Josh Rapacz. Highlights—Moon (U) 3x4, HR, 2 RBI; Michael Holmes (U) 1x3, 2B; Dan Jacobs (R) 1x3, 2 RBI, BB, 2R; Brett Jacobs (R) 2x4, 2B, 3R; Shepherd (R) 7IP-7H-2ER-8K-1BB, 2x3, 2 RBI; Rapacz (R) 1x4, 2RBI; Zach Rapacz (R) 1x4, 2B, 2R; Chris Cecil (R) 2x3, BB, R.

Kamiak 002 010 0 — 3 4 2
Richland 001 122 x — 6 9 1
Groves, Pennock (6) and Houghtaling; Stinson Ott, Kyle Stumetz (4) and J. Rapacz. Highlights—Stumetz (R) 4IP-3H-1ER-3K-0BB; Jamison Rowe (R) 1x2, 2 SB, 2R, 2 BB, 2B; Dan Jacobs (R) 3x4, R, 2B, SB; B. Jacobs (R) 1x4, HR, 2 RBI; J. Rapacz (R) 2x3, R, BB; Quinn Zorich (R) 1x3, 2 RBI.

Kamiakin 010 001 10 — 3 8 1
University 000 102 01 — 4 7 4
One out when winning run scored.Kody Young and Dillon Jackson; Austin Peasley, Rapose (7) and Keeton. Highlights—A.J. Griffiths (K)_ 2x4, RBI; Jackson (K) 1x4, 2B; Devan Willis (K) 1x3, HR; Justin Dodd (K) 2x4; Nolan Sportelli (K) 1x1, HR; Moon (U) 3x4, 3R, 2B.