EVERETT — The Monroe baseball team is used to one-run baseball games by this point in the season.
Still, it doesn’t make it any easier on Bearcats head coach Eric Chartrand.
Monroe’s seventh one-run game of the season was its most important, with the Bearcats holding off Mount Vernon 3-2 in a 4A District 1 loser-out game Thursday afternoon at Everett Memorial Stadium.
The win sends the Bearcats to a winner-to-state game against the loser of Thursday night’s Snohomish-Lake Stevens district championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Everett Memorial Stadium. The loss ended Mount Vernon’s season.
“(The experience in close games) doesn’t help me out,” Chartrand said with a laugh. “But the more the boys are put in that position the more they do well. I was just really proud.”
Monroe’s Andrew Chartrand started the scoring for Monroe with an RBI double in the top of the third inning. Fellow senior Alex Spahman followed that with a two-run double to score Chartrand and Justin Folz to give the Bearcats a 3-0 lead.
“These stages are for the older kids who have been here before to step up,” Eric Chartrand said. “Andy had a nice base hit to get us on the scoreboard and Spahman came up big. It was good to see him get one.”
Andrew Chartrand finished the game 2-for-4 and Folz batted 2-for-3 with a run scored and a double for Monroe (11-11 overall), which tallied 10 hits in the game.
The Bearcats would need all three of those runs to hold off the Bulldogs.
Mount Vernon continued to chip away at Monroe’s lead, with runs in the third and fifth inning. Jason Mustappa had an RBI double for the Bulldogs in the third inning and Mount Vernon (12-10) added another run on an error in the bottom of the sixth.
The Bulldogs also threatened in the bottom of the seventh with a lead-off double by senior Hayden Schmidt — who went 2-for-2 in the game. But Monroe pitcher Daniel Murphy got a fielder’s choice and a double play to end the game and continue the Bearcats’ season.
“Honestly, I keep saying the same thing, but we just get more time together. That’s all I could ask for,” Chartrand said. “I love this group of boys and as long as we get a chance to keep playing that’s a good thing.”
Murphy worked out of jams in the final three innings. The senior, who improved to 4-1 this season, struck out six batters and earned his second win of the district tournament pitching in place of scheduled starter Jared Cogar, who felt tightness in his arm prior to the game.
“Murphy was ready,” Chartrand said. “He’s a guy who wants the baseball. That’s the kind of guy you want.”
Chartrand was going to stick around for the district championship game between Lake Stevens and Snohomish. Monroe lost to Snohomish three times this season — twice by one run — and split the season series with Lake Stevens.
The Monroe coach said he didn’t have a preference about who the Bearcats take on Saturday morning.
Said Chartrand: “I want this to be a really good championship game and whoever we get, we’ll be ready for.”
At Everett Memorial Stadium
Mount Vernon 003 000 0 — 3 10 1
Monroe 001 010 0 — 2 6 0
Daniel Murphy and Austin Rogers. Cooper Nelson, Ryan Fredrickson (6) and Gabe Beuckman. WP—Murphy (4-1). LP—Nelson. 2B—Justin Folz (M), Andrew Chartrand (M), Alex Spahman (M), Noah Miller (M), Jason Mustappa (MV), Hayden Schmidt (MV). Records—Mount Vernon 12-10. Monroe 11-11.
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