Plugging The Middle Andrew Larson And Nate Lynch Have Shortstop, Second Base Covered

For a key to Central Valley’s baseball success this year, just look at the middle of the infield.

“In my opinion, we have the best shortstop-second base combination in the league,” said coach Ed Garcia.

That combination of shortstop Andrew Larson and second baseman Nate Lynch helped the Bears finish second and propelled them into today’s Greater Spokane League district semifinal game.

Winner of the 2 p.m. game at Seafirst Stadium qualifies for this year’s Region IV AAA tournament.

Lynch, from a family of strong-hitting players, became CV’s second baseman out of necessity.

“Second base was a question mark at the beginning of the season and we moved him for the good of the ball club,” said Garcia.

Lynch played centerfield and third base last year for the Bears.

Batting third in the order, Lynch was the team’s second-leading hitter this season, with a .425 batting average, 3 home runs, 5 doubles and 16 runs batted in.

Larson, a third-year varsity shortstop, led the team in hitting with a .462 batting average and runs scored with 19.

“Defensively he ranks with the top shortstops I’ve had here,” said Garcia.”And he’s the perfect number two hitter.”

Although CV is the alma mater of Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Kevin Stocker, Larson said he tries to pattern himself after Cleveland Indian Omar Visquel.

“I don’t compare myself to Omar, but I watch him on TV and try to do what he does,” Larson said.

A competitive baseball player since age 6 and a whiffle ball player before that, Larson was part time varsity shortstop his sophomore year and the starter the last two years.

This season he gave up basketball to concentrate on baseball.

“I figured I would not get a whole lot of playing time and if I was to practice it might as well be for the sport I’ll play in college,” Larson said.

Lynch also grew up playing baseball, following in the footsteps of his dad, Ben, and older brother, Casey, at CV, and brother Kelly, who played two seasons at Freeman High.

Nate briefly attended Freeman but was back at CV on the junior varsity team during his sophomore season.

“I’d played Junior Legion (baseball) with them and really liked the guys here,” he said.

This year he willingly moved to second base.

“I’d played pretty much every other position the last two years,” he said. “I was finishing the job, I guess.”

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Lynch and 5-10 Larson worked easily together, teaming up for often spectacular defensive plays as well as providing offensive fireworks.

In last Tuesday’s second-place clinching win over Mead, Lynch hit a two-run go-ahead single and made a diving stop and throw from his knees for a seventh-inning putout.

Both players were instrumental in CV’s 11-5 league season, which included eight wins in their last nine games. But they credit other Bears with their success.

The team had all the ingredients, including solid pitching, catching, defense and offense.

“I think most of us expected to be in the race the whole time,” said Larson.

His biggest disappointment was an early season loss to Rogers after leading 8-1. The highlight was the end-of-season win streak.

Following the slow start, Lynch said the players knew “if we just played hard, stuck together and buckled down, we’d probably succeed.”

Although crediting the efforts of all his players, Garcia said the senior middle infielders were special.

“The physical part is obvious,” he said. “Not to sound corny, but they led by example. Anyone would be proud to have them as their sons.”

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