Homer Keeps Royal In Running For A Crown

State A baseball

The Royal Knights ran themselves out of four innings Friday night before finally running an old nemesis out of Seafirst Stadium.

By the eighth inning of a State A semifinal delayed 3 hours by rain, Royal pitcher Levi Meseberg had seen enough. His leadoff homer in the eighth cleared the right-field wall with plenty to spare and was the difference in Royal’s 4-3 win over defending champion Kiona-Benton.

Meseberg’s solo shot sent the Knights into today’s revamped finals of the WIAA Washington State A Baseball Championships.

The other semifinal - Columbia (White Salmon) and Lakewood - was postponed to 10 a.m. today.

Royal will play the Lakewood-Columbia winner for the title at 4 at the stadium.

The consolation rounds of both A and B classifications were shifted to West Valley High School, where Northwest Christian will play Cascade Christian at 10 a.m. in the B, followed at 1 by Ki-Be and today’s Lakewood-Columbia loser.

Royal overcame four base-running glitches to avenge two earlier losses to Kiona-Benton.

The Knights forfeited a run in the second when Aaron Christensen failed to touch third on his way home. An inning later, Christensen was gunned down at third trying to stretch a double that bounced off the base of the right-field wall.

Royal pinch-hitter Chris Hill led off the seventh with a single but was picked off by pitcher Josh Eick, who also nailed Royal’s Travis Vermeer in the eighth.

For all the frustration that caused in the Royal dugout, coach Jim Klampher said he wouldn’t trade his club’s attack mode for conservatism on the basepaths.

“We were too anxious, but it’s history now,” he said. “If I had it to do over, I’d do the same thing. That’s how we manufacture runs. When the kids are thinking about being aggressive we do a lot better.”

Meseberg was almost as impressive in the clutch on the mound as at the plate.

He surrendered a two-out, two-strike triple to Ki-Be’s Derek Schab, who represented the potential winning run, then hit Jody Reid and walked freshman Lucas Meredith on four pitches to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh.

But with the count full to Bill DeRousie and the season riding on a single pitch, Meseberg fanned DeRousie to send the game into the extra frame.

He wasted no time getting all of Eick’s fastball in the eighth.

“I thought it was gone as soon as I heard it,” Klampher said. “That was his 10th home run. I’ve seen him hit longer. Nothing fazes him. He’s been doing the job all year long for us.”

Ki-Be earlier beat Royal 4-3 and 6-2, with Eick beating Meseberg both times.

Klampher said the rain delay - it came after two complete innings with the scored tied at 1 - helped settle his team.

“We went back to the hotel, ordered some pizza, watched a (College) World Series game and came back a little more relaxed,” he said.

, DataTimes