Mead Gets One Strange Win

High school baseball

Dan Thigpen ran out to center field for the bottom of the seventh inning, still baffled by how strange baseball can be.

“It was amazing to think that the inning before we were three runs down,” Thigpen said after Mead humbled Central Valley 12-5 during the District 8 4A baseball tournament Friday at Avista Stadium.

Thigpen had a two-run double and a sacrifice fly as Mead scored 10 runs in the top of the seventh to roar back from a deficit that had been 5-0 after five innings.

“I’m humbled because we were two outs away from extinction,” Mead coach Dave Vaughn said of the seventh-inning rally that began with one out and one runner on base.

Eleven consecutive Panthers reached base, the first three against reliever Seth Gemar (4-2), the Greater Spokane League’s earned-run average champion at 1.49. The Panthers rocked Gemar for four earned runs in one-third of an inning.

The rollicking comeback sends Mead (12-9) into today’s second round at Avista against Ferris (15-6). The winner of that 11 a.m. game will play Shadle Park (15-4) at 2 p.m. for the district’s other berth to next weekend’s Region IV tournament, also at Avista. GSL champion North Central (17-3) has already qualified for region.

Ferris opened the day with a six-inning, 10-0 breeze over Rogers (9-11), last year’s district surprise team. Eric Everson allowed two singles, struck out nine and retired 16 of the final 17 batters he faced.

The top three in the Ferris lineup, Craig King, Everson and Aaron Sedler, combined for four runs, two RBIs and 5-for-10 hitting.

CV (13-7) appeared headed toward a shutout behind Kevin Reed, building a 5-0 edge with the help of three Mead errors. Reed was five outs away from the shutout when he loaded the bases by hitting Adam Johnson with a pitch, allowing Thigpen’s single to right, and plunking Mead starting pitcher Dan Stucky on the ankle.

Jake Sampson, on the first pitch after Stucky’s HBP, popped up to shortstop. But sophomore Ryan VanDoren lashed his third hit, a single to right, for two RBIs and a 5-2 game.

CV coach Ed Garcia brought in Gemar for the seventh, but the move backfired.

“I don’t think Gemar ever got in that groove,” Vaughn said. “When he gets his curve over, he’s tough to stop.”

Ross Carper, Dan Pecka and Johnson all took Gemar pitches up the middle for singles. Thigpen tied the game by drilling a double to left-center.

“I felt like I was going to have a heart attack at second base,” Thigpen said. “When I hit it, all I could think of was having it get over the outfielders’ heads and allowing our second runner (Johnson on first base) to score.”

Sampson atoned for the overeager atbat in the sixth by singling to center off Derek Wohlers, scoring Thigpen for the go-ahead run.

Mead reliever Mark Redmond earned the win, striking out four in two innings.

Top seeds Kamiakin (19-2) and Eisenhower (15-6) won at home to advance to today’s title game at the District 5/6 tournament. Kamiakin defeated Wenatchee 11-1 in six innings and Eisenhower edged Richland 3-2. The day opened with Richland (14-8) eliminating Walla Walla 8-0 and Wenatchee (11-11) knocking out Southridge 10-9. Today’s schedule opens with Richland vs. Wenatchee in a loser-out. Kamiakin then plays Eisenhower for the No. 1 seed to region. The first-game winner and second-game loser then meet for the No. 2 regional seed.

Colville and Cheney of the Frontier League lost Region IV 3A tournament games to fall into today’s loser-out bracket against one another… . T.J. Brose hit a two-out grand slam in the 11th to lift West Valley of Yakima (16-5) to an 11-7 win over visiting Cheney (12-11). Brose, the starting pitcher, struck out nine in six-plus innings. Cheney scored four in its seventh to force extra innings, tying the game when Steve Rassmussen stole home. Miles Strampe went 3 for 5 for Cheney… . Marc Scherzinger pitched a three-hitter, striking out 10 and walking one, and visiting Selah (20-3) defeated Colville 6-0. Selah’s Trevor Warren went 3 for 4 off Joe Spears, who allowed just one earned run. Today’s schedule at Shadle Park is: Cheney vs. Colville, 9:30 a.m.; WV vs. Selah, 11:30, for the No. 1 to state; and the first-game winner vs. the second-game loser, 1:30 p.m., for No. 2 to state.