PASCO — The Skyview Storm had been perfect through the WIAA state 4A baseball tournament’s first two rounds, beating Inglemoor 1-0 in the first round, and then edging Eastlake 1-0 in the quarterfinals.
But on Friday night, in the state semifinals at Gesa Stadium, the Storm ran into Moses Lake’s Evan McLean.
And he was perfect on this night.
McLean, a senior for the Chiefs, tossed a perfect game against Skyview as Moses Lake beat the Storm 3-0.
It keeps the Storm (19-6) from going back to the state title game for the second consecutive year.
Instead, Seth Johnson’s team will play Issaquah — a 3-2 loser to Olympia in the other Friday quarterfinal — at 1 p.m. Saturday in the third-place game.
Johnson spent a long time after the game talking to his team down the right field line.
But he told his players to keep their heads held high, that it wouldn’t have mattered which team in the state faced McLean. No one would have beaten him on this night.
“It’s definitely a tough way to lose,” said Johnson, whose Storm teams have competed in the Class 4A final four for three straight years. “It was just one of those special nights. (McLean) was electric. You just have to tip your cap to him.”
McLean tossed 77 pitches, striking out 12 batters.
Johnson estimated McLean’s fastball to be in the mid-to-upper 80s. For high school, that’s fast. But that’s not why he was so dominant.
“He was hitting his spots,” said Johnson. “He has a fast arm, and he’s got a good breaking ball. I mean, his fastball had command, but he had some sharp breaking balls.”
McLean said he usually pitches to contact and lets the defense behind him make the plays. So the 12 strikeouts he had weren’t a normal thing.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever had a game like this before,” McLean admitted. “I wanted to keep them off balance tonight, so I threw a lot of curveballs.”
Moses Lake coach Donnie Lindgren said it was McLean’s best breaking curveball he’s seen.
“He was absolute dynamite,” said Lindgren. “He gave up just one earned run for our entire (Big Nine Conference) season.”
That’s 18 games, and it’s why McLean was named Big Nine pitcher of the year.
But what might have made the loss even tougher for the Storm is the three runs the Chiefs scored in the top of the third. They did it on just one hit.
Skyview starter Ryan Pitts did struggle in the first, throwing 25 pitches as Moses Lake loaded the bases in the first before he got out of the inning without surrendering a run.
But in the third, Pitts hit Emmitt Tatum to start the inning, then walked Dax Lindgren. When Dom Signorelli tried to dump a bunt, Pitts field the ball and fired to third base to try to get the lead runner. He didn’t, and the bases were loaded.
With McLean at the plate, he lofted a fly ball to left for a sacrifice fly and a run.
Two batters later, the Chiefs’ Zack Valdez singled to right center to drive in the two other runs.
Johnson knows his players were devastated with the loss. But he also knows they’ll bounce back. That’s what good baseball teams do.
“They’ll be back ready to compete,” he said.
His pep talk he gave the team afterwards highlighted how proud he was of them.
And when he asked them to give each other a hug, the Storm players spent the next five minutes doing so, before getting together themselves to talk as they start the regrouping process for third place.
