By Ben Zimmerman
After his senior ace pitched Mt. Spokane into the regional finals, Wildcats head coach Alex Schuerman called Oregon State recruit Drew Rasmussen "unflappable."
Schuerman was probably guilty of understatement. In extricating himself from calamity in what proved to be a pivotal first inning of a Region IV 3A semifinal victory, Rasmussen wasn't merely impervious to pressure, but better in its clutches.
"He's such a competitor," Schuerman said of Rasmussen, who pitched a complete-game five-hitter and did not allow an earned run while improving to 11-0 this season in the baseball program's first-ever state victory. "If you were just watching him pitch, you wouldn't know if he we was up 5-0 or down 5-0.
"He knew our season was on the line today. He doesn't get rattled."
Twenty pitches into the game on Saturday, the bases were loaded with Hanford baserunners. Rasmussen had yet to retire a batter or get ahead in a count. His fastball was everywhere but the strike zone.
So he proceeded to carve the outside corner with a first-pitch curveball to Falcons cleanup batter Aaron Enderlin -- and never look back.
Enderlin struck out swinging. Ditto 5-hole batter Ryan Colson. When Rasmussen coaxed a harmless grounder to shortstop Tyler Bailey for an inning-ending fielder's choice, what would prove to be Hanford's best chance to do damage had been deflected.
"He got back in the groove, backwards," said Shuerman of the first-pitch breaking ball to Enderlin. "That was actually our game-plan for (Enderlin), because he hurt us on fastballs last week. It worked out.
"He was pretty lights out after that."
Mt. Spokane doubled down on the momentum swing by touching Hanford junior Jacob Anderson for three runs in the bottom of the first. Cooper Smith and Jordan Fitzpatrick had back-to-back singles, and Smith scored on a one-out base hit by Rasmussen. Connor Cantu's sacrifice fly to left was deep enough to plate Fitzpatrick from third, and Jake Leavey dumped a single into shallow right to score Rasmussen.
That was all the scoring the Wildcats would muster against Anderson, who allowed just three baserunners for the duration. But with Rasmussen dealing, it was all they'd need. A 9-2 double play in the top of the fifth, when right fielder Fitzpatrick threw out a runner at home plate after catching a fly ball, ended the inning after Hanford had scored its lone, unearned run.
“Hats off to their pitcher,” Hanford coach Tom DeWitz said. “That guy is good.”
Rasmussen also struck out the side in the third with a runner at third base. Four of his eight strikeouts came with Hanford runners in scoring position.
"He shut us down," Anderson said of his pitching counterpart. "He had us off balance."