Bulldogs bump both NE top finishers to advance to state regional round

Colfax baseball players will head for the state regional round at Ferris High on Spokane's south hill Saturday after pegging back-to-back wins last Saturday in the showdown rounds for NE district play. The Bulldogs defeated Chewelah, the top team from the NE-North, 3-2 in the first round, and then stopped Asotin, the south side champs who topped Colfax in the league double at McDonald Park.

"It had a lot of drama," Coach Scotty Parrish commented.

The Bulldogs, who were stopped in the regional round last year, will face Tonasket in the first game at Ferris. They will play opposite the Brewster-Northwest Christian matchup in the other first round game.

Chewelah, marking its first year in the NE 2B division, arrived at Medical Lake on top of the north side after a 10-0 shutout of Davenport the previous week to up their record to 16-3.

Coach Parrish credited senior hurler Nate Akesson with pitching a solid game against the Cougars for the 3-2 win. Akesson fanned 10 Cougar batters, walked just two and allowed four hits.

Parrish rated Chewelah starter Andrew Sweat as one of the best pitchers the Bulldogs have faced this season.

Colfax broke out to score all three of their runs in the third inning and allowed the Cougars one run in each of the fifth and sixth frames.

Akesson ran out of pitches in the last inning, and Layne Gingerich came on to finish it.

The Bulldogs breakout in the third started with Kolby Sisk getting hit by a pitch. Gingerich, Eric Akesson and Nate Akesson followed with singles to put the three Colfax runs on the scoreboard.

Colfax then faced Asotin in a showdown game for the top NE slot. The two south-side foes locked up at 1-1 in the first inning and played shutout ball for the next three frames. Colfax scored one in the fifth and Asotin answered with two. Colfax scored three in the sixth and Asotin again answered with three for a 6-5 lead over the Bulldogs going into the last game.

The Bulldogs pulled out the 8-6 win with three runs in the top of the seventh. Evan Henning rapped a one-out single and the next batter walked. Eric Akesson and Nate Akesson each singled and Blake Bodey rapped a hit to tie it up. Kelan Becker was then hit by a pitch and that scored the last run.

Gingerich pitched into the sixth inning, and Becker went to the mound with one out in the sixth. He also shut down the Panthers in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the two-run Colfax lead.

Asotin, which used ace Devin Fry in their first-round win over NWC, pitched Noah Renzelman and Keaton Caldwell for three innings each. Reliever Carson Jurries gave up the hits which nailed the win for the Bulldogs in the last frame.

Northwest Christian bumped Chewelah 5-4 to get the third and last NE ticket to the state's 16-team regional round.

Saturday at Ferris, Colfax will play Tonasket, the number-four finisher from the playoff for WIAA Districts five and six at 1 p.m. Northwest Christian will play Brewster, the number-two finisher from the 5-6 playoff.

Asotin, as the number-two NE team, is booked to play Columbia of Burbank at Davis High in Yakima.

Winners of two games at each regional get a ticket to state at Centralia the next week.