Despite having retired 11 Bennett Tigers consecutively between the third and sixth innings of Friday’s Class 3A-Region III Tournament opener, senior Jackson Queen knew his work against a tough Frontier League crew wasn’t done.
Queen was protecting a slim 3-1 lead after junior Dante Candelaria ripped a two-out double scoring Tavian Box in the bottom of the sixth.
“Their right fielder was playing in and their center fielder was shifted over a lot, so I just sat back and hit it that way,” Candelaria explained, of his opposite-field gapper RBI. “And at the plate I cleared everything from my mind; I needed a hit – really hadn’t gotten one the last couple games – and knew I was due. I saw that perfect-strike fastball thrown and hit it to right-center.”
Queen went back atop the mound to face Bennett’s 5-6-7 hitters and promptly surrendered a single to Tiger shortstop Ben Mathis – who earlier scored after singling to lead off the top of the second.
Bennett third baseman Connor Rayburn then singled to left, pushing Mathis along to third. With Rafael Ibarra at bat, Rayburn stole second, putting the tying runs in scoring position for the state tournament’s upset-minded No. 30 seed. Queen, however, managed to freeze Ibarra with a called third strike. He then got Bennett center fielder Dane Ortiz (0-3, RBI) to ground out to shortstop Caden Wood, but Mathis (2-3, 2 R) scored on the play and Rayburn (1-3) raced ahead to third.
In one of those great ‘baseball’ ironies, opposing pitcher Peyton Mott stepped into the batter’s box next, representing the Tigers’ last hope after having held the 3-seed Wolverines to seven hits while beaning just one hitter and issuing zero walks. During his start, Mott had once retired seven Bayfield batters in a row, and had also avoided a bases-loaded disaster in the bottom of the fourth by getting pinch-hitter Cole Wagner to bounce into an inning-ending 4-6 fielder’s choice.
Looking to hit through the right side of the infield, Mott (0-3) unluckily smacked Queen’s 100th pitch on the ground and straight at first baseman Noah Chamblee, who made the scoop, calmly trotted to his bag, and advanced the home team into the event’s finale with a 3-2 win.
“It’s kind of sad when you think about it, but it’s cool,” said Queen (W, CG; 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 10 K), reflecting on his final start upon his home field. “Glad to have regionals here instead of somewhere else. And I felt pretty good after about the second inning. Had a rough start, but felt good after that.”
“Being in my hometown with all these other kids here … it feels really good,” said Candelaria (1-3, 2B, RBI), who was actually thrown out trying to stretch his sixth-inning double into a triple. “And after our loss against Cortez, we really needed to prove something … that they shouldn’t have beaten us.”
Senior Lance Mazur (1-2, sacrifice fly) scored the regional semifinal’s first run in the bottom of the first via a wild Mott pitch to Chamblee, after being bumped from second to third by a Wood single. Alertly replacing Mazur at the hot corner on the wild pitch, Wood (1-3, R) then scored via Queen’s two-out single up the middle after Chamblee (0-2, HBP) struck out.
Box then grounded out to Rayburn, but the Wolverines (17-4 overall) had the all-important upper hand. The Tigers (10-9 overall), even after Ibarra singled to plate Mathis in the second, just couldn’t break that grip. In the top of the third, first baseman Gavin Neade hit a one-out liner to Wood, with Wood then throwing to second baseman Mazur to double off runner Kaden Higgins (who’d already been stranded at third ending the guests’ first, when Neade struck out looking).
“I mean, both teams played good. I was struggling in the beginning, the first couple innings, but I got by,” said Mott (L, CG; 6 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 K), “and thought it went well.”
Also reaching once via fielder’s choice, Queen ended up 1-for-3 with one RBI. Box went 1-3 and reached once via error, catcher Nic Twedt went 1-3, and left fielder Micah Cornelia went 1-2 with a sacrifice bunt and also a bunt single as the Wolverines advanced to face either 19-seed Strasburg or 14-seed Lamar.
After three lightning delays and a subsequent downpour, however, the battle between SHS (11-10) and LHS (16-7) was put on hold until the following morning, with Tri-Peaks League champion Lamar leading the Patriot Leaguers 2-0 after one inning and a 1-1 count on Strasburg’s Espen Bradley beginning the designated guests’ second.
“There’s a lot of people, a lot of pressure, but we can definitely beat these teams and go on,” Queen said.
