Trojans Close Out Season With 3rd Place Finish in Longview

Longview, WA – After a two year hiatus due to COVID-19, the NWAC Baseball Championship was back, and for the 6^th consecutive year, EvCC was among the final 8 teams in Longview.  After winning a 3^rd straight North Region Title (the first under first year head coach Parker Guinn), the Trojans earned an automatic bye into the final 8 and drew a familiar opponent in tournament host Lower Columbia College on the opening night. 

Everett faced the Red Devils, back in mid March for a 4 game series with all four games being tightly contested.  Everett lost the first two in Longview, both in the 10^th inning and both by a single run, scores 2-1 and 1-0.  Then in Everett LCC bested Everett 5-3 before the Trojans took the final game of the series 4-1.

Having the previous weekend off did not appear to be of benefit for EvCC as they struggled all night to produce offensively, ultimately falling 9-1. EvCC punched a run across in the first but from that point, Lower Columbia took control and scored nine unanswered runs.

Everett starting pitcher Kenji Miller threw four innings, allowing one earned run but four total runs. Ben Steck had the team's lone RBI on a double in the first. Konnor Palmeira was 2-for-4.

The loss would send Everett into the elimination side of the bracket where they would face West Region Champions, Tacoma CC who had lost earlier in the day to Mt. Hood by a final score of 4-3 in the 10^th inning. 

After being held to one run in Thursday's night cap, the Trojan offense finally got the bats going and exploded to defeat and eliminate the Titans 17-3 in seven innings. Tacoma jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and scored another run in the second but were held scoreless the rest of the way. Everett answered with four runs in the top of the second, adding six in the fourth, four in the fifth and three in the seventh.

The Trojans tallied 18 hits on the day, led by Jonathan Kumai's 4-for-4 game with four RBI and two runs scored. Six other Trojans had multi-hit games, including first baseman Konnor Palmeira who went 3-for-5 with one run and an RBI. Third baseman Ryan Contreras was 2-for-4 with three runs scored two RBI.

Dylan Matsuoka pitched four innings with three runs, two earned allowed and seven strikeouts. Zach Ediger and Jacob Sesso combined for three scoreless innings and eight punch outs.

The win kept the Trojans alive, setting up a date against North Region rivals Edmonds who upset East Region Champions Spokane on the first day, but fell to South Region Champs Linn Benton 6-1 in the second round. 

The forecast was not an ideal one for Memorial Day Weekend and the rain never subsided prompting the tournament committee to postpone all three games on Saturday and push Sunday.

Everett entered the contest against Edmonds with confidence, having beat them three out of four in region play, but the Tritons themselves had confidence and the game ended in a 1-0 dogfight in favor of EvCC thanks large part to a complete game shutout performance by Julian Taudin-Chabot.  Julian allowed just six hits and three walks with nine strikeouts.  The lone RBI was driven in by Ryan Contreras who had a two-hit ball game.  Braden Terry went 3 for 4 and was the one that scored the go ahead run back in the 6^th off of the Contreras single. 

The win solidified a spot in the final three amongst Mt. Hood (who had one loss in the tournament) and Linn-Benton, the lone undefeated team. 

Everett drew the match up with Linn Benton, another team they had seen earlier in the year.  Facing elimination for the 3^rd straight game the Trojans continued to show their grit and prove why they were a top three team.  The bats exploded for 15 runs against a Linn-Benton pitching staff that had only allowed five runs in three tournament games entering the day. With the score 1-1, the Trojans scored six runs in the third to take a commanding 7-1 lead.

Linn-Benton did not go down quietly, however. Down 8-2 in the seventh, the Roadrunners scored three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to make the score 8-7 heading into the ninth. Everett shutdown the comeback attempt, putting up a seven spot in the top of the ninth.

Ben Steck went 2-for-2 with five RBI's, two doubles and two runs scored for the Trojans. Braeden Terry was 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs while Xavier Ulrich was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. The Trojans used four pitchers in the game, with Devin Macwatters earning the save with two shutout innings, stranding the bases loaded in the eighth.

The final three teams now had one loss, but Everett would need to face off with Mt. Hood in the second game of the day (as the two teams coming up the elimination side of the bracket) to earn a spot in the winner take all championship game on Tuesday against Linn-Benton. 

The semifinal game was much different than the prior game, as pitching dominated. The Trojans struggled to string hits together against Saints' starting pitcher Hiroyuki Yamada, who was dominant in a complete game performance. Yamada only allowed four hits and worked a perfect game into the sixth inning. The lone run came in the ninth, when Everett tallied two hits and a walk, but it was not quite enough to complete the comeback and prolong the season another day.  Everett fell 2-1.   

Starting pitcher Ayden Adams pitched well, allowing two unearned runs in six innings with six strikeouts. Jacob Sesso pitched a pair of scoreless innings in relief for the Trojans.

Everett has now finished 3^rd or better in the NWAC tournament in four of the past six seasons (2^nd place finishes in 2016, 2017, 2019).  Over five games in the tournament a number of Trojans performed well highlighted by Braeden Terry who hit .429, scored 6 runs and drove in 4 with 3 stolen bases.  Jonathan Kumai hit .353, scored 4 runs and drove in 6, while Ben Steck hit an even .300, scored a couple of runs, had three doubles, and drove in 6 runs.  Julian Taudin-Chabot probably had the best performance on the mound going 9 complete shutout innings, while striking out 9 batters in his lone start. 

In addition to the overall team success this season there were a number of Trojans to receive individual accolades. Kenji Miller, Ben Steck, and Xavier Ulrich received First Team All North Region Honors.  Dylan Matsuoka, Preston Moritz, Sheehan O'Conner, and Braeden Terry were named second Team All North Region.  Ben Steck, Konnor Palmeira, and Jonathan Kumai received Golf Glove honors in the North Region, and Konnor Palmeira was also named the North Region MVP. 

In addition to a region title and a 3^rd place overall NWAC finish, first year head coach Parker Guinn was also named north region coach of the year and starting his career with a .680 overall winning percentage.