Collison was doing his part early on for Newport

When Newport baseball coach Rusty Hargrove was coaching a team of 10-year-olds about seven years ago, he noticed a 9-year-old shagging fly balls in the outfield.

Hargrove pulled young Nick Collison aside, played a little catch with him and was sold.

“He was throwing me curveballs and I said, ‘Wait a minute, he’s 9 years old,’ ” Hargrove said. “I asked him, ‘Where’s your momma?’ and I went up to her and said, ‘I need him.’ “

Collison, now a junior, is the top starter on Newport’s 17-0 baseball team, a group that has played together since Collison joined the team.

“We’ve been good this year because we’ve been together for so long,” Collison said. “We’ve been working hard at practice and everything.”

Collison gives the Grizzlies an ace on the mound and a big stick in the lineup.

The lefty is 9-0 with two saves and 59 strikeouts, allowing only two earned runs and 16 hits in 43 innings for a 0.33 earned run average. He’s batting .468 with four homers and 19 runs batted in, playing first base when he isn’t on the mound.

“He throws hard, I’m thinking he’s in the mid-80s,” Hargrove said. “He’s a typical left-hander – he can throw everything. He’s got a natural curveball and a great glove at first base. He’s got a little bit of pop with the bat now, too.”

This group of juniors has played varsity baseball since a difficult freshman year adjusting to high school baseball with a .500 season last year as part of the Great Northern League. Now, after dropping down into the 1A classification, they appeared to have found a home.

Earlier this year, Collison pitched Newport to a 3-2 win over 2004 State 1A runner-up Okanogan. He also homered in an 11-5 win over GNL second-place Chewelah.

The Grizzlies have outscored teams 172-52.

The Junior Legion version of the team came within two runs of playing in the state tournament last summer.

During the football and basketball seasons, the team often hits in the batting cage and lifts weights on the weekends, always with an eye toward baseball season.

“The goal is to win state and go 26-0,” Collison said. “That’s come from how things are going. Since we’ve been going so good, why stop here?”