A year ago, it was Grayson Grover starting on the mound for the Scappoose High School baseball team in the 4A state title game.
In 2024, aiming for a second consecutive crown, it was junior Joe Fagan on the bump against Marist Catholic on Saturday, June 1, at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer.
Grover, a senior this year, didn’t start the 2023 game well, walking two batters and watching Pendleton take a 2-0 lead. Of course, the Scappoose offense backed him up and scored 12 unanswered to end the game in mercy rule fashion with a 12-2 win.
That made the advice pretty simple for Grover to give to Fagan: Start well and trust the defense. Fagan did just that, throwing a complete game with four runs allowed on three hits with four strikeouts.
In the seventh, hanging on to a 5-4 lead, Fagan went back out to close out the game, inducing three fly balls to the outfield to secure the win and Scappoose’s sixth state title in program history in back-to-back fashion.
“I told (Fagan) go right after the guys, have a bunch of confidence and it’ll show,” Grover said. “That’s what he did.”
Fagan didn’t give up a hit through the first 4.2 innings of the game, letting the defense work and his trust was returned with only one error made in the first inning.
Meanwhile on offense, Scappoose struggled at first with the first seven batters being put away by Marist starter Niko Leyba.
However, a couple of the balls were well struck, leading to some good fortune on a blooped single from Brandon Neilson for Scappoose’s first hit in the third inning.
That opened the floodgates as Colton Sprenger followed it with a double down the right field line. Quinton Olson brought them both home with a curling double into the left field corner.
Fagan did some damage at the plate next, singling to right field and bringing home Olson. That gave Scappoose a 3-0 lead thanks to five hits in the inning.
“That’s what we’ve been doing all season long, so it just feels expected and normal,” Scappoose head coach Cameron Webb said. “Brandon got a little bloop single that dropped in there and Colton crushed one to right field, the season he’s had has been awesome … Then you get the top of the order up and they just did their thing from there.”
Marist, who won in the semifinals thanks to three runs in the seventh inning at No. 1 Henley, wouldn’t go quietly. The Spartans got a triple from Raith Huffman in the top of the fourth to score a run and make it 3-1.
Scappoose went right back to work though, starting with a single from Eli Harrah to open the bottom of the fourth. He eventually scored on a single up the middle from Neilson. And Neilson scored later on a passed ball to make it 5-1 Scappoose.
Fagan had a clean fifth, but struggled in the sixth. He walked the Marist leadoff batter, gave up a single and hit the third batter to load the bases with no outs.
Fagan fought for a strikeout, but hit the next batter to bring home one run. Then a single through the left side brought another run home to cut the Scappoose lead to 5-3.
Following another strikeout, an error at shortstop allowed another Spartans run to score to make it 5-4 and leave the bases loaded. A flyout to right field ended the Marist rally.
Scappoose went quietly in the sixth, opening the door for Marist to make another late-game rally.
Instead of going to a fresh arm, Webb believed in Fagan to get the job done. And the junior delivered with three flyouts to the outfield to end the game.
“I just asked (Fagan), ‘Do you want it?’ He said yes,” Webb said. “I said, ‘Let’s get it.’ We trust him and he was great.”
“I actually did get kind of nervous,” Scappoose senior Miles Harrison added. “(Fagan) is a D1 athlete. The entire season I’ve seen his work ethic and it was just great to see how much focus he puts in every day.”
“Every ounce of my body was believing in Joe at that point,” Grover added. “I never lose trust in this group, we always find a way to win.”
Sprenger was named the Player of the Game by the OSAA with a 2-for-3 night at the plate with one RBI and one run scored, plus four putouts in left field, including the final two outs.
The state title is Scappoose’s sixth, tying it with Madison/McDaniel with six and three behind The Dalles and Henley who each have nine.
Scappoose is only the 20th school in Oregon to ever post back-to-back titles, joining Thurston in 5A who also pulled off the feat Saturday, June 1.
For Webb, to be atop the all-time standings is an accomplishment that isn’t lost on him.
“That’s the goal, to keep on going and take over first,” Webb said. “But really, we just focus on our process. What these guys bring, the work ethic they bring and the love they have for each other, if we keep doing that it’s going to take care of itself.”
For the five seniors, which includes Harrison, Sprenger, Grover, Harrah and Leland Boswell, they leave the program as two-time state champions.
“It felt so casual this year for some reason,” Grover said with a laugh on winning once more. “Felt a little more of a grind this year. It wasn’t a surprise almost.”
With plenty of returning talent, the three-peat is definitely a possibility in 2025.
For now, Scappoose is spending Saturday night partying back home, and then spending Sunday at the beach in Washington with another OSAA blue trophy by the team’s side.
“I’m so happy for these guys; they deserve it,” Webb said. “It’s a group of humble, hard working, selfless kids. Every one of them. For them to be able to hang their hat on this, I feel so happy for them.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0