Prep baseball notes: Mt. Spokane clinches Greater Spokane League, feels no pressure chasing undefeated season

With one game remaining before district play, Mt. Spokane has a chance to complete a rarity: an undefeated season.

On Thursday, the Wildcats faced a touch challenge from North Central, breaking a 2-2 tie late with three runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to escape with an 8-2 win to run their record to 19-0.

“We knew they weren’t going to let us walk in and give us a win just because we’ve been having some success,” Wildcats coach Alex Schuerman said. “They battled. It was tight. I got a little nervous, for sure.”

The last threat to a perfect season is a rematch on Saturday against NC at home, where Mt. Spokane has only played three games this season because of the unseasonably wet weather and poor field conditions.

“The weather’s been the worst in history, probably,” Schuerman joked. “Every day we could practice, it’s been raining. We’ve practiced indoors a lot. We always joke we’d beat anyone in the state in a battle of stickball indoors.”

They’re beating everyone outdoors already anyway.

On Thursday – yes, in the cold and rain – the Wildcats used three of their deep staff of pitchers to fight back a game Indians squad.

Ben McKinnis started and struck out six in three-plus innings. Cole Hattenberg served as the middle reliever and had six Ks in three frames and Jacob Morgan closed the door, striking out five in the last two innings to prevent any thought of a comeback.

Mt. Spokane has five of the top 10 earned-run average leaders in the Greater Spokane League – the three who pitched on Thursday, plus Stu Flesland and Marcus Cain.

“I have a lot of confidence in all of them,” Schuerman said. “Going into (Thursday) we’d given up 28 runs in 18 games, something really silly. Those are like video game number. Pitchers don’t do that usually. It’s a tough league and our pitchers have done a great job.”

Mt. Spokane clinched the league with a tense, extra-innings 5-2 win over Central Valley on Monday, then followed with another win, a 15-2 romp over the Bears, on Tuesday.

The primary focus for Schuerman and his Wildcats was winning the GSL title and putting themselves in a good position heading into districts, where they will host a game on Friday.

“I think once we clinched on Monday it was a little bit of weight off our shoulder in the sense of like, ‘Let’s just keep playing our game,’ ” Schuerman said.

“We faced a great pitcher on Monday in CV in (Jeremy) Yelland. He just threw lights out. We happen to go to extras and win in extras, got some clutch hits, some clutch defensive play. Then we won and it’s like, ‘All right, let’s just go,’ and you could see the looseness the next day cause we just came out and pounded the baseball.”

If there’s any pressure on the Wildcats to finish with a perfect record, it doesn’t seem to be showing.

“It’s definitely kind of a special spot to be in and we have a chance to finish the season 20-0,” Schuerman said. “I’ve never done that, I know that. I’ve been in the GSL for quite a while now. We don’t really talk about it. We just say, ‘Let’s go win this game. Let’s go compete,’ and we know if we keep winning we’ll be 20-0 if we do that.”

Cain, who started the clinching game and went six innings, is one of nine seniors on the team. He thinks his team has a unique opportunity.

“It’s pretty crazy ’cause no other team at Mt. Spokane has done it,” Cain said. “There are a lot of good teams in the GSL this year so it’s crazy to think if we can pull it off.”

When prompted about chasing a perfect season, fellow senior Gabe Martin spoke with respect to winning.

“Coach is keeping us motivated to be the best we can be,” Martin said. “The record doesn’t really have everything to do with it. It’s more just being the best we can be and in the end, do what you’re supposed to do and in the end it’ll all pay off. And that’s what it’s doing so far.”

GSL Notes: Shadle Park (12-5) finished second in the 3A standings and will play a district game on the road on Friday.

Gonzaga Prep (13-4) clinched first in the 4A standings and will host a district game on Thursday, while Ferris and Central Valley (both 11-6) play Saturday to break a second-place tie. The winner hosts a district game while the loser travels to face the No. 2 MCC team on Thursday.

Great Northern

West Valley (12-5, 7-3) was idle this week and faces East Valley in a doubleheader on Saturday. Clarkston (12-5, 7-4) topped Pullman 6-5 on Thursday. Brandon Ellibee homered twice among his four hits.

Northeast A

Freeman (13-2, 10-0) stayed undefeated in league with wins over Riverside on Saturday and Deer Park on Tuesday. The Scotties beat second-place Chewelah (9-4) 10-1 on Friday as McKabe Cottrell and Koby Kent combined on a no-hitter, the second time they accomplished the feat this season. Cottrell also went 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Freeman has a three-game lead in the league with four games to play.

Northeast 2B

The seeds for the district tournament in both division are set. In the North, first-place Northwest Christian (10-4, 9-1) split with St. George’s (10-5, 7-3) on Thursday to earn the top seed. Kettle Falls (14-3, 7-3) swept Reardan on Tuesday and took second to earn the second first-round bye. In the south, Colfax (12-1, 10-0) and Asotin (12-5, 8-2) earned the top two seeds and first-round byes. All will host second round games on Tuesday.

Northeast 1B

Almira/Coulee-Hartline (16-0, 12-0) stayed perfect, sweeping Wilbur-Creston on Tuesday. Dalton Kentner drove in six with a double and a pair of triples in the second game, a 16-13 win.

Southeast 1B

Pomeroy (13-1, 7-1) beat Garfield-Palouse 10-2 on Saturday as Jace Gwinn homered, doubled and drove in two. The Pirates play at Colton (10-2, 4-0) on Saturday.

Idaho

Coeur d’Alene (8-5, 4-4) beat Lake City (7-7, 3-5) 3-2 in the first of a doubleheader on Tuesday, but the second game was washed out after heavy rain and hail. The Vikings lost the first of a scheduled doubleheader against Lewiston (13-5, 7-4) 6-4 in 15 innings on Friday, The second game was postponed until next week. Post Falls (11-7, 5-4) split with Lewiston on Tuesday and faces Lake City in a doubleheader on Saturday.