Eastlake baseball wins districts, prepares for state
Following two and a half weeks of competition consisting of three games against local high schools, Eastlake varsity baseball brought home the KingCo 4A District Championship title for 2022.
Eastlake extended their regular season win-streak with their first playoff victory against Glacier Peak on May 7. The runs were spread relatively evenly amongst the team, with Noah Weintraub scoring two runs and Jack Edmunds, Griffin Miller, Blake Borup, Grady Woodward, Cole Murawski, and Levi Joyce adding one run each. Bryce Johnson, while not individually adding to the score, gave the Wolves an offensive advantage with three hits. In addition, Eastlake successfully added three stolen bases to their team stats.
Pitcher Bryce Johnson delivered for Eastlake, pitching the entire game with an earned run average (ERA) of 3.00 to open the tournament. A final score of 8-4 marked the team’s dominance in the first game of the district competition.
Three days later, the Wolves faced the Bothell Cougars in the semifinals, dominating once again in a 10-3 victory in their third game against the Cougars this year. A significant difference in ERAs between the pitchers illustrated the Eastlake edge. With an average 11.67 ERA for the Cougars by Luke Olsen, Charlie Meyer, and Walker Lamb, versus an average 3.00 from the Wolves’ Joyce and Dylan Skolfield, Bothell gave up eight hits compared to six for Eastlake.
Eastlake bats were hot with an overall batting average of 0.308 compared to the Cougar’s 0.231. Johnson and Edmunds provided two hits each, but Edmunds led the Wolves with three runs. Miller followed suit with two while Borup, Weintraub, Luke Schlecht, Grady Woodward, and Murawski padded the score with one run each. Furthermore, Skolfield added two stolen bases to bolster Eastlake’s prospects for the night.
Their final game against Issaquah on May 14 was their closest yet at the tournament, with the Wolves squeaking by with a 6-5 win. Pitching was split between Johnson, Weintraub, and Joyce. Together, they had an average ERA of 4.00 compared to Issaquah’s 6.00, also divided among three pitchers.
On the offensive side, Edmunds and Johnson provided two hits each but were left on base, unable to add to the score. Weintraub contributed two runs and Cole Hunt, Borup, Joyce, and Griffin added one run each to win their third matchup against Issaquah this year, clinching the 2022 4A district title.
With this win, the Wolves qualified for the 2022 Washington 4A State Tournament from May 21 to May 28. In their tournament opener, Eastlake will face Tahoma at 10:00 a.m. at Heritage Park in Puyallup.
Information for the upcoming state tournament bracket can be found here.
