Walla Walla captures 4A regional baseball title

Gesa Stadium has not been kind to the Walla Walla baseball team. Before Saturday, it had never won a game at the Pasco ballpark in four tries.

The Blue Devils strung together three runs on three hits in the fifth inning, then held off Gonzaga Prep over the final two frames for a 3-2 victory and the 4A MCC/GSL regional title.

“This was a lot of fun. I’m proud of my kids,” Wa-Hi coach Keith Gradwohl said. “Nothing is ever easy. Their kid (Seth Kuykendall) on the hill is pretty tough.”

It’s the second regional title in three years for Walla Walla, which will play Wenatchee, at 10 a.m. May 20 in the first round of state. The site has not been determined.

The Blue Devils had a 3-2 lead going into the top of the seventh inning. Mitch Lesmeister had replaced starter Nich Zehner on the mound, and the Bullpups quickly put two men on base.

Lesmeister struck out Connor Coballes, but with just one out, G-Prep still was in the game.

Jeffery Young, who had a double in the first inning, sent the first offering from Lesmeister straight to Walla Walla third baseman Mason Knowles, who in turn started a 5-4-3 double play to end the game.

“Mason has been so good at third base all season,” said Blue Devils center fielder Scott Golden. “Once it got hit to him, I knew it was over.”

Gradwohl had the same feeling. “Mason can really play. He is a defensive gem.”

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for the Blue Devils to start the game.

G-Prep put a run on the board in the top of the second inning when Brayden Lanphere drove in Bo McGinn with an RBI single.

Walla Walla managed just three hits off of Kuykendall through four innings, but tagged the Bullpups’ ace with three runs in the fifth.

“That has been our thing all season,” Golden said. “We get down, but we don’t let it bother us. It’s just a matter of time before we get hot.”

After Cody Wordon struck out, Connor Lemma laced a triple to the left-center gap, then came home on a Seth Ahrens single down the first-base line.

“I just tried to stay calm out there,” said Ahrens, a sophomore second baseman who went 2-for-2. “It was an exciting play. It started the momentum and we carried it from there.”

A triple by Golden pushed Ahrens across the plate for the go-ahead run, and Golden scored on a squeeze bunt by Knowles for a 3-1 lead.

“Knowles got the squeeze down — it’s not easy to bunt a high fastball,” Gradwohl said.

The Bullpups got one run back in the top of the sixth with Carsten Schmidt scoring on a McGinn sacrifice fly.

In the seventh, Gradwohl put the ball and the game in the hands of Lesmeister, the Mid-Columbia Conference player of the year.

“Zehner was still strong, but I have a lot of faith in Mitch,” Gradwohl said. “He has been through the wars in three sports.”

Zehner threw six innings, scattering six hits and striking out two. He got the nod over ace Dexter Aichele.

“We kept Aichele in our back pocket just in case we had to play again,” Gradwohl said.

CHIAWANA WINS 2: The Riverhawks scored three runs on one error, and another off a bases-loaded walk in the second inning to beat Hanford 6-5 in the first loser-out first game of the regional at Gesa Stadium to kick off a day that eventually landed them a state playoff berth.

The five runs erased a two-run first by Hanford — which got both runs from a two-RBI double by AJ Wiegand.

The Falcons got one run back in the fourth and two more in the fifth, but couldn’t catch the Riverhawks.

Andrew Vargas pitched two innings of relief for Chiawana, striking out three.

Vargas pitched three more innings of scoreless relief in the nightcap to get the win, and the Riverhawks tacked on three runs in the top of the seventh to beat Gonzaga Prep 8-5 in a winner-to-state, loser-out game.

Trent Simpkins hit a one-out single to right to drive in Collin Favor for the go-ahead run in the seventh, then came around to score the game’s final run on an RBI knock by Brayde Hirai.

Chiawana (16-9) will play Glacier Peak at 10 a.m. May 20 in the opening round of the state playoffs at Heidelberg Park in Tacoma.

This story was originally published May 13, 2017 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Walla Walla captures 4A regional baseball title."