MOUNT VERNON — The Lynnwood Royals’ baseball season came to an especially painful end on Saturday.
The Royals saw Lucas Jungmann, their starting pitcher and one of their best hitters, leave the game with an ailing arm in the third inning and never recovered as they lost to Bainbridge 3-0 in the Class 3A Region 1 championship at Dream Field.
“I think he’s all right,” Lynnwood coach Fraser Dizard said. “His arm was a little tender before the game started. That’s one of the reasons he didn’t start the first game, but (taking him out) was more of a precautionary thing.”
The defeat ended the season for the Royals (18-7), who were making their first state regional appearance in six years. Bainbridge (20-2) moves on to the Class 3A state semifinals Friday at the University of Washington.
Jungmann, a senior right-hander, exited the game holding his right arm after giving up a run-scoring double to Trent Schulte in the bottom of the third. Schulte’s hit gave Bainbridge a 1-0 lead.
Sophomore Kyler McMahan took over and recorded the final two outs to get the Royals out of a jam, but they clearly felt the loss of Jungmann.
“It definitely hurt,” Dizard said. “I think it was kind of a letdown for some of our team because he’s a senior and he’s one of the leaders. I think he’s leading our team in (batting) average and is one of our best pitchers, so it definitely was tough.”
Bainbridge expanded its lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning, taking advantage of a couple of one-out walks and getting run-scoring singles from Brice Koslosky and Blake Swanson.
That was more than enough support for Schulte, Bainbridge’s starting pitcher. The senior left-hander, who hopes to play at Gonzaga next season, pitched a four-hit shutout. He struck out five and walked only one. Thanks to a pair of double plays, he faced the minimum number of hitters in five of the seven innings.
“I felt like my fastball command was the biggest thing,” Schulte said. “I was throwing a lot of fastballs right where I wanted to.”
Often his target was just off the plate.
“He definitely was throwing the ball outside and getting us to chase it,” Lynnwood senior second baseman Carson Hoerner said.
Schulte was not overpowering, “but he did something right,” Dizard said. “We only got, what, four hits? And a couple of those were pretty weak. I thought he did a real good job.”
Still, the Royals made Schulte earn the win. Singles by McMahan and Brady Girgus in the top of the seventh brought the tying run to the plate with one out. That prompted Schulte to take a stroll behind the mound.
“At that point it’s tough not to think about winning the game,” he said. “When you have a three-run lead and have been in control the whole game, it was hard for me to focus on what was the task at hand. … They came out and battled in that last inning, obviously. But I just took a couple deep breaths and realized we had to take care of business.”
He climbed back up on the mound and struck out the final two batters to send Bainbridge on to the final four.
Schulte’s performance was similar to the one the Royals got from sophomore Jared Whitman in their first game Saturday. Whitman threw a four-hitter and struck out five as Lynnwood beat Auburn-Riverside 4-1 for its first state regional win in 14 years.
Hoerner was 2-for-3 in the game with a triple and two runs scored. McMahan was 2-for-2 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored.
That victory may have taken a little of the edge off his team, Dizard said.
“I think that one of the hardest things to do in baseball is play a doubleheader, to stay mentally prepared and to stay ready to play for that second game,” he said, “especially in a tournament setting like this where there is a lot of emotion in every game.
“I think that affected us a little bit. We came out kind of flat (against Bainbridge). We didn’t hit very well. I think it took a lot out of us that first game.”
At Dream Field
Lynnwood 000 000 0 — 0 4 1
Bainbridge 001 200 0 — 3 5 1
Trent Schulte and Truman Miller. Lucas Jungmann, Kyler McMahan (3) and Brady Girgus. WP—Schulte. LP—Jungmann. 2B—Blake Swanson (Bain), Schulte (Bain). Records—Bainbridge 20-2. Lynnwood 18-7.
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