No one thought it was going to be easy, but as it turned out — it kind of was.
The No. 2-seeded Banks baseball team cruised into the 3A state semifinals with a five-inning 15-0 win over No. 7-seeded La Pine on Friday afternoon, May 24, at Banks High School.
From the first pitch the Braves battered La Pine starter Deakon Looney, and with help from a shaky Hawks defense, plated nine runs in the game’s first inning to end things before they really got started.
In all, Banks (23-4) tallied 10 hits in the game, which was more than enough for Braves staring pitcher, Lane Gilbert, who was solid over his 3.1 innings of work, allowing no runs on just two hits, while striking out six and walking two.
“I thought Lane pitched great today,” Banks head coach Joe Baumgartner said. “He had to sit too long between innings and that’s one of the things that got him a bit, but it was just a whole team effort.”
That it was.
Six Braves had hits in the game, three had multiple hits, and the team had 11 batters reach base in the pivotal first inning.
“That was a surprise,” Baumgartner said about the game’s opening stanza. “They’re one of the hottest teams in the state, but our guys came to play today and everyone in our lineup hit in that first inning.”
The coach went on to speak to the importance of his team’s ability to jump on the Hawks (17-10) from the get-go, not only from this specific game’s perspective, but also from the perspective of player availability going forward.
“That first inning was amazing,” Baumgartner said. “It just deflated them, and with it being the playoffs with pitching limitations, to be able to shorten the game to five innings is huge.”
Senior Wyatt Hesselman led Banks at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs-scored, but was closely followed by Ashton Crossen who was 2-for-2 with four RBI and a run-scored; Justin Walters who was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run-scored; and Gilbert who had a hit, two base-on-balls, two RBI and three runs-scored.
Kade Long and Henry White also had hits in the game.
Baumgartner was impressed with his team’s top-to-bottom performance in the game, citing a lack of such that has caused them problems at times over the past couple of months.
“We’ve got kids who have been here for three years, and they’re very good and skilled ballplayers, but we don’t have the depth we had last year,” Baumgartner said. “There was a point in the season where the bottom of our lineup was struggling, but when they come on like they did today, it’s gigantic.”
They’ll need a similar effort in their upcoming semifinal against either Valley Catholic or Warrenton whose quarterfinal game was postponed due to weather, both of which the Braves split games with in league play this season. Baumgartner said who they played was of no consequence to he or his team, but did say that while he thought it a shame that all three league foes were on the same side of the bracket, he was excited to go against either with a state final appearance on the line.
“I’m disappointed that all the teams in our league are all right together,” Baumgartner said. “But we’re looking forward to playing either one.”
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