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Redmond Baseball Advances to Semifinals for First Time Since 1993

Dylan Davis throws a complete-game shutout and Zach Abbruzza homers as Redmond advances to the state semifinal round for the first time since 1993.

The Redmond baseball program has gotten used to disappointing exits in the state tournament. Three times in the last four years, the Mustangs have lost in the quarterfinals, including a shocking loss to Federal Way in 2010.

Saturday afternoon at Heidelberg Park in Tacoma, Redmond finally got to experience a happier ending to the first day of the state tournament.

Dylan Davis pitched a six-hit shutout and Redmond banged out 12 hits en route to a 6-0 victory over Kentwood to put the Mustangs into the semifinal round of the 4A state baseball tournament for the first time in nearly two decades.

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Redmond had won its first-round game for the fourth time in five years earlier in the day, , but needed to get past the defending state champions in order to get to the semifinals for the first time since winning it all in 1993. 

Davis made sure that there would be little doubt about the outcome. The senior Oregon State-commit seemed to get stronger as the game went along, striking out five in a row at one point late in the game and allowing just one extra base hit.

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"Going through the order a couple times, you kind of realize what they like and what they don't like, and adrenaline starts kicking in," Davis said. "You realize what's at stake."

While their best pitcher was dominating on the mound, the Mustangs offense got an early boost from their best hitter, as Zach Abbruzza blasted a first-inning homerun to give Davis all the offense he needed.

"That's kind of what we've been doing lately, we've been getting that early run," Redmond head coach Dan Pudwill said. "Once we kind of break it open, we feed on it."

Davis ran into some early trouble, allowing base runners in each of the first four innings. But Davis was at his best when it mattered most, holding the Conquerors to an 0-6 showing with runners in scoring position, including getting Kentwood cleanup hitter Cash McGuire to fly out with runners at first and third in the third when the game was still close.

"It was just a huge momentum kill for them — it was awesome," Davis said of getting out of the early trouble.

Redmond put the game away with a three-run sixth inning. Shorstop Michael Conforto doubled with runners on second and third to put the Mustangs up 5-0, and Peter Hendron knocked in the final run to kill any chances of a comeback.  

The Mustangs have picked the right time of the year to start playing their best baseball. After losing 8-1 to Inglemoor in the first round of the KingCo tournament, Redmond has rattled off six straight wins, all by at least four runs, including three by 10 runs or more.

"It's a lot of guys who don't want to stop playing baseball," Pudwill said. "They realized once we lost that game to Inglemoor that it could end at any minute, and they're too good for it to have ended that soon ... I don't know exactly what happened, but they just flipped a switch."

Redmond will face Jackson on Friday in the semifinal round. Jackson beat the Mustangs KingCo rival Newport 3-1 on Saturday to help Redmond avoid the team that finished ahead of them in the conference this year. While Mustang players cheered loudly after getting past the quarterfinal round for the first time, their sites remain on bringing the state title back to Redmond for the first time in 18 years.

"We've still got to go get two more," Davis said. "We know we're capable of doing it and we want to go do it ... hopefully we can carry this momentum into next week."

The semifinal game against Jackson will be at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma at 4 p.m. on May 27.

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