BELLEVUE — The Shorewood baseball team won two games on Saturday. The second of those two — a 7-4 win over Auburn Mountainview — sent the Thunderbirds to the 3A state semifinals, but it never would have happened without what senior starting pitcher Ian Oxnevad did in the first game.
The Thunderbirds needed 12 innings to defeat Lake Washington 1-0.
Oxnevad pitched 11 of those innings.
“His performance was incredible,” Shorewood coach Wyatt Tonkin said. “There was a couple of times they had a man on third and less than two outs and he battled out of it. He’s a little bit more quiet than people think, but when he gets on that mound he is a competitor. For 11 innings he was just lights out. The kid has just got the heart of a lion.”
Not only did Oxnevad pitch out of jams, he picked off four baserunners in the game to help his cause.
“He’s got a fantastic move and he works on it,” Tonkin said. “He’s very deceptive. He’s pretty proud of that. He works hard at it and it shows.”
Around the ninth inning, Tonkin started asking Oxnevad between innings how he was feeling. Up until the 11th inning, Tonkin said Oxnevad would say “I’m fine, just get me a run.”
“I trust Ian completely,” Tonkin said. “He’s pitched for four years here. When I go ask him, he’ll tell me the truth. I understand that he’s got a big career ahead of him, so I try to keep an eye on him.”
Oxnevad’s answer changed after the 11th.
After the 11th inning he came to me and said ‘that’s it, I’m done,’” Tonkin said.
He told Tonkin that he didn’t want to be the reason for a loss and that his legs were tiring. Oxnevad was relieved by the team’s No. 2 starter Cole McKisson, but first the Thunderbirds finally got a run for Oxnevad in the top of the 12th inning on a Grant Jones single.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a 12-inning game like that,” Tonkin said. “You’re on the edge of your seat and every play is huge.”
McKisson came out to pitch the 12th to pick up the save and ensure Oxnevad would get a win for all of his hard work.
Oxnevad’s hard work was over, but McKisson’s was just beginning. After picking up the save against Lake Washington, he started in the quarterfinals against Auburn Mountainview. McKisson pitched a complete game and gave up four runs and seven hits.
“The biggest thing for Cole this year is his ability to throw strikes and control the strike zone and he did that today,” Tonkin said.
Three of Auburn Mountainview’s four runs came in the first inning, something that worried Tonkin, but his team responded by scoring five in the bottom of the first.
“Coming back and putting up five after they scored three in the first inning was huge,” Tonkin said. “We were running on adrenaline for a while after that first game.”
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