JoJo Howie knows a little something about what it takes to win a Northwest Athletic Conference baseball championship.
Howie, the head coach of the Everett Community College baseball team, was a pitcher for the Trojans when they won the NWAC title in 2013. He tossed 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball in Everett’s 2-0 victory over Yakima Valley that put the Trojans two wins away from the title.
So as Everett heads into its huge season-ending weekend series against Edmonds — a crucial four-game set between two of the league’s top teams that will determine which team wins the North Region — Howie believes this edition of the Trojans has what it takes to add to the school’s lone NWAC championship.
“We couldn’t be happier with the boys and what they’ve done,” Howie said. “They’ve created a real good culture. This wasn’t necessarily supposed to be our year, but they came together, worked real hard, and they’re a self-made team as opposed to just having big-time recruits all over the place. I’m proud of the group and how they’ve come together and played as a unit.”
What the Trojans have done is turn themselves into the top team in the NWAC. Everett heads into the weekend 17-3 in the North Region, 33-7 overall and ranked No. 1 in the most recent NWAC coaches poll, receiving all eight first-place votes.
Everett has been good at all aspects of the game. The pitching staff, led by the likes of freshman right-hander Zach Boswell (8-1, 2.25 ERA, Snohomish High School graduate), is second among the league’s 28 teams in ERA at 2.59. The offense, paced by players like sophomore center fielder Sam Linscott (.338, six homers, Lakewood High School graduate) and freshman second baseman Austin Hauck (.304, 37 runs, Archbishop Murphy High School graduate), is sixth in runs per game at 6.5. And the Trojans’ .968 fielding percentage ranks third.
But does it stack up to the 2013 Everett team — which featured North Region MVP Max Whitt (.375, 50 runs), NWAC RBI champ Daniel Orr (.365, 51 RBI) and NWAC tournament MVP Gunnar Swanson (9-2, 1.69 ERA) — that won it all six years ago? Howie was diplomatic with his answer.
“I don’t know,” Howie said. “I’d say this team is a little younger, it might be a little faster,” Howie said. “I think in 2013 we had a few more sophomores in the starting lineup that we’d run out.
“I don’t really know how to compare the teams,” Howie added. “I think they’re different groups. I will say this: Both teams could do all three things really well, they hit, they defended and they pitched. Both teams were well-rounded without a lot of holes.”
But before this year’s Trojans can begin contemplating an NWAC championship, they first have to deal with Edmonds. The Tritons (15-5, 30-9) are ranked No. 5 in the NWAC, are riding a seven-game winning streak, and statistically are Everett’s match on the mound (2.60 team ERA) and in the field (.976 fielding percentage).
This weekend’s series, which consists of doubleheaders Friday at Edmonds and Sunday at Funko Field at Everett Memorial Stadium, is immense. Whichever team finishes first in the region receives an automatic bid to the NWAC Baseball Championship on May 23-27 in Longview. The team that finishes second has to survive a three-team cross-regional bracket to advance to the NWAC tournament.
Everett heads into the four-game set with the upper hand, holding a two-game lead. However, if the Tritons win three of the four to pull into a tie for first, then Edmonds will earn the top seed based on head-to-head results.
Further complicating proceedings is that No. 8 Bellevue is only one game behind Edmonds in third. It’s an unlikely scenario, but if Edmonds wins three of four from Everett and Bellevue sweeps four from Shoreline, it creates a three-way tie for first.
“This is fun,” Howie said. “We’re in a series that will dictate who wins the North. Both teams are really good. We knew they were going to be really good coming into the year, and we were hoping that by the time this series came around it would decide who won the region.”
As for the debate between this year’s Everett team and the 2013 squad, when pressed to choose which team would win a game between the two, Howie gave a short chuckle, then replied: “That’s a tough one. The boys this year could definitely play with those guys. It would be a pretty fun matchup.
“But I think I’d have to take (2013), because in the end I can still get our guys out. It would be a good game, though.”
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