The 2011 season for the Enumclaw High School boys baseball team came to a conclusion in the State 3A Baseball Tournament on Saturday at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue. The Hornets crushed Meadowdale in the first round 19-2 but lost 6-2 to Mount Si in a winner-take-all game for a trip to Cheney Stadium next weekend in Tacoma.
"We won 20 games," Enumclaw coach Eric Fiedler said. "Not many high school teams in the state win 20 games."
In game one for the Hornets, the offense got rolling early as Kyle Baumgartner hit line drive rope into the right-center field gap scoring Kyle Thomson and giving Enumclaw a 1-0 lead. Marcus Madden would follow a single back up the middle and Eric Koenig knocked in Madden on a fielder's choice putting the Hornets ahead 3-0 after one.
After the Mavericks cut the lead to 5-2, Enumclaw offensively began to heat up scoring 11 runs in the fifth and sixth inning to the put the game well out of reach. The rally got started when D.J. Hitch and Trenton Disque got aboard with a walk and single, respectively; then a sac fly by Thomson and clutch base hits from Michael Lucarelli and Baumgartner, who came around to score on a error by the Meadowdale third basemen, pushed the lead out to 14-2 for the Hornets.
In the bottom of the sixth, Tyler Carlson put the exclamation point on the game with a long three-run homerun well into the trees as part of a five-run inning where Fiedler gave several reserves like Austin Grau, Preston Keeter, and Dylan Kleist at bats, and they took advantage of their chance to play by all getting on base during the inning.
In the second game of the day in the State quarterfinals, it was a battle of two top five teams as Mount Si beat Timberline 4-2 to advance to play Enumclaw for the right to go on to the State Semifinals next Friday.
The Hornets came out strong in the top of the first as Carlson hit a ringing opposite field double to score Thomson and put Enumclaw up 1-0.
In the bottom of the first, the Wildcats would respond after a Trevor Lane sacrifice fly to tie the game; Max Brown hit a ground ball to shortstop Lucarelli who made an outstanding play and throw to Cody Hughes, whose stretch appeared to stay on the bag as the first base umpire ruled Brown out, ending the inning.
However, after the teams had cleared the field, controversy struck as the home plate umpire overturned the call after an appeal by Mount Si and a run scored giving the Wildcats the 2-1 lead; an appeal in return by the Hornets was to no avail.
Mount Si took advantage of the momentum shift and the strong pitching by Reece Karalus who at one point retired 15 straight batters and the Wildcats stretched their lead out to 4-1.
Enumclaw fought back in the top of the sixth, when Lucarelli smashed a double to left field scoring Thomson and cutting the lead to 4-2.
The Wildcats finished the scoring in the bottom of the sixth when a Hornet error led to two more runs putting the game in hand at 6-2 for Mount Si.
With the loss, Fiedler has to say goodbye to a tremendous senior class who has put together back-to-back 20 win seasons including a third place state finish in 2010 and is leaving a legacy of excellence for Enumclaw baseball, the high school, and the community for future years to come.
"This is a special class," Fiedler said. 'These guys gave it everything they had."
