Eastlake wins first 4A state baseball title by taking down Sumner

EVERETT — In the first state championship baseball game in program history, the Eastlake Wolves (26-2) proved that they belonged on the big stage. 

The No. 1 seeded Wolves cruised to a dominant 13-1 victory over Sumner (19-9) at Funko Field in the Class 4A title game, as the offense scored early and scored often, while Eastlake’s Dylan Skolfield pitched a gem, allowing just one run on eight hits over 6⅓ innings. 

“This has been an incredible season, and I’m so proud of our team,” Skolfield said. “We work so hard, and we fought so hard in this game. It was up and down, and I’m just so proud of our guys for pulling through.”

Jack Edmunds drove in the Wolves’ first run with an RBI double in the first, and Tyler Griffin made it a 3-0 game with a two-run RBI single off Kreuger in the second. Kreuger was pulled after 1⅓ innings in favor of Joey Kosko. 

Sumner threatened with three straight singles to kick off the bottom of the fourth, but Skolfield coaxed a pop-up to first base from Kreuger, and struck out Brayden Adcox and Peyton Nixon to get out of the bases-loaded jam unscathed. 

When Skolfield struck out Nixon for the final out of the inning, he screamed and pumped his arms in jubilation as the crowd cheered. 

“He buckled down,” Eastlake coach Frank Smith said. “He got tough, bowed his neck, and just went after them. Credit to him and all the things he’s able to do and he’s done. He’s come a long ways.”

The Wolves made the Spartans pay for that missed opportunity by scoring two more runs in the top of the fifth. Blake Borup drove in a run with a bloop single to right field, and courtesy runner Jayden Matsuoka scored from third base on a passed ball to push Eastlake’s lead to 5-0. 

The Wolves scored eight more runs in the top of the seventh to put the game away for good. 

Sumner’s only run came in the bottom of the fifth, when Bradley Carl scored from third on an RBI groundout from Jake Bresnahan. 

Skolfield was pulled to a standing ovation with one out in the seventh, having reached his pitch-count limit. His path to the dugout was littered with hugs, congratulations, and cheers from the Eastlake faithful, who watched the Washington State baseball commit bring his team to the mountaintop of Washington high-school baseball. 

Smith hugged Skofield as he took the ball from him, as the senior finished off his outstanding high-school career in the best possible fashion.

“Just so proud of you,” Smith said he told Skolfield. “’I’m just so proud of the work that you do. You’re done.’ The execution part of it obviously everybody sees that, but there’s so much work he did behind the scenes.”

Dillon Jones finished it for the Wolves, with Sumner’s Jay Mentink grounding out to second for the final out. The Wolves responded with the customary state championship dogpile. Though they had never been there before, they knew just what to do. 

The Wolves totaled 14 hits, and ended the season on a 19-game winning streak. 

“It’s a long work in progress. The feeling is incredible,” Jones said. “It’s a lot of people and a lot of things and steps that have taken place to get here. … To have this and finish this way, it’s just incredible.”

The loss for Sumner came in the first state title game in program history.