NEA Preview Baseball

It’s hard to argue with the Northeast A League’s baseball success. Lakeside has been to state nine of the last 10 years and won three trophies. Freeman placed third last year, Chewelah was fourth in 2A in 2005 and qualified as recently as 2007 and Newport finished second and third in ’05 and ’06. All four have aspirations again.

Outlook

Like the Great Northern League, coaches predict balance in Northeast A. Freeman returns three first-team and two second-team players from last year’s state semifinalist and third-place-finishing team. They include outfielders Jacob Kitterman, Beau Barnes and catcher Jake Sullivan. Shortstop Steven Burke and outfielder Chris Miller were second-team choices. Replacing pitching will be paramount, although Barnes and Miller gained experience a year ago. … Lakeside, a state perennial, brings back first-team choices shortstop Brenden Herzer and outfielder Zach Templin as well second- team selection Mike Dunn. Key is how well they swing the bats. … Newport has pitching and Chewelah offense. …Other key players are Newport’s Logan Goulet, Chewelah’s Nathan Burgess and pitcher Duffy Burkey and Kettle Falls’ Kolten McInelly. … The Scotties are off to a 5-1 start this year, losing only to Naches Valley in preseason. … Lakeside rolled past Medical Lake and has beaten Kettle Falls and Newport in league. … Chewelah is 4-1 start after sweeping Newport and the team swept Lake Roosevelt in a “doubleheader” as reported in the Chewelah newspaper, scoring 47 runs in six innings. First game was stopped after a 23-run second-inning. Second game went four. Burgess had five hits and Travis McCanna six.