Top-ranked West Linn proves itself again by beating Jesuit 2-0 in the 6A championship.
It wasn’t about flash.
It wasn’t about prestige.
It wasn’t about draft position or D1 college commitments.
No indeed. West Linn’s 2-0 win over Jesuit in the Class 6A state baseball championship — held Saturday, June 3, at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer — was all about team.
The Lions got a gutsy performance from senior pitcher Drake Gabel, a handful of stellar defensive stops and a gritty, small-ball effort on offense that put pressure on the Crusaders and gave the Lions their second straight state title. With the win, West Linn became the first Oregon Class 6A school to win back-to-back championships and the first big school to win back-to-back crowns since Madison did it in 1969-70.
“It means everything, going back-to-back with this group of guys,” said Gabel, who pitched all seven innings and shut out Jesuit on six hits and one walk while striking out four. “We’ve been playing together since 9U. We have such a strong core group and to win this again just means everything. I’m so happy right now.”
“There’s a lot of talk that goes around during the season and everything, but just going out here and proving that we’re the best in the state again, it’s just an amazing feeling,” said Lion junior catcher Ryan VandenBrink, who threw out one would-be base stealer and also made a key diving catch of a Jesuit foul tip. “I’m super happy.”
“It feels great,” said West Linn sophomore right fielder Danny Wideman, who went 1 for 3 at the plate with a double, scored the game’s first run and made two key catches. “There were a lot of doubters. They’ve got a lot of D1 talent, but we just settled it down and did our thing and focused on us.”
“It’s unbelievable,” added Lion senior first baseman Jake Holmes, who went 1 for 3 at the plate and knocked in Wideman with the game’s first run. “I knew coming into this game that this was the last time I was ever going to get to put on a Lions jersey so to be able to come out victorious is the best.”
With the win, the top-ranked Lions’ 10th straight, West Linn ended its season with a 26-6 overall record after winning the Three Rivers League title. No. 2 Jesuit, meanwhile, saw its 10-game winning streak snapped and ended its year at 26-6 overall after winning the Metro League crown.
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The Crusaders opened the game with a leadoff single to left from senior Charlie Sturm — that after Holmes dropped Sturm’s foul pop-up in short right field — but West Linn showed its defense and resiliency right away.
Gabel struck out Crusader senior Levi Jones for the first out, and then, with senior Ryan Cooney at the plate, VandenBrink threw out Sturm on an attempted steal, with Lion junior shortstop Mitchell Rowe making a dynamite catch and tag at second base. Gabel then got Cooney to ground to second to end the frame.
The Lions then broke through for the game’s first run in the bottom of the first, with Wideman hitting a one-out double down the third-base line and — after Jesuit senior pitcher Noble Meyer (he’s projected to be the 11th pick in the 2023 Major League Baseball amateur draft) struck out sophomore Baron Naone for the second out — Holmes lobbing a soft single to center field for an RBI.
“I was just trying to settle down and try not to do too much when I was up at bat, just put the ball in play,” Wideman said. “I was just trying to put the ball in play and put the pressure on them.”
“That was just electric when Danny got his early hit. That’s what started it all,” said West Linn senior third baseman Jackson Curdy. “It was just being able to say ‘This guy is so hittable. Come on.’”
“We knew we were going to have to throw the first punch if we were going to beat this team, and when I saw Danny hit that double, I started getting it in my head that I was going to come through for this team,” Holmes said. “So for me to be able to get in the box and score that run and deliver the first punch was amazing.”
Both pitchers held the upper hand over the next three innings, with Meyer facing just two batters over the minimum — a two-walk by junior Gabe Howard in the second and a leadoff error that put Howard aboard in the fourth — and Gabel battling every step of the way.
Gabel, nursing that slim 1-0 lead, gave up two hits in the top of the second, but saw VandenBrink help quell the threat with a diving catch of a foul tip by Jesuit senior Evan Williams. Gabel set the Crusaders down in order in the third, then allowed a two-out single to Jesuit senior Ty Alleman in the fourth before getting Williams on a grounder to Rowe.
West Linn boosted its edge to 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth by putting pressure on the Jesuit defense, and this time, seeing it crack. Rowe got things started when he reached base with one out on a Crusader throwing error, moved to third on Gabel’s groundout to short, then scored when Jesuit threw the ball away trying to catch him off third.
“They have some of the best players in the state and I know a lot of those guys, but coming out here on a dirt field when both teams are used to turf fields, it’s a different ballgame and we just went out there and we said ‘We are going to be hard-nosed at the plate and we’re going to get it done no matter what’ and that’s what happened,” VandenBrink said. “And they struggled with it.”
Jesuit’s best chances to score came in the fifth and sixth innings, beginning when sophomore Kainoa Santiago hit a two-out drive to center in the fifth — only to see Howard make a running over-the-shoulder catch at the center field fence some 400 feet away from home plate.
Then in the sixth, Sturm hit a leadoff double to right, but Wideman recorded the first out with a diving catch of Jones’ liner to right, Gabel got Cooney on a pop-up to senior Tyson Smith at second, and Wideman ended the inning by tracking down Meyer’s shot to the right-field fence.
“My outfielders help me out with my reads — the ball flies a little bit here and there was a little wind today — so I just wanted to make sure I got good jumps … and settle down and make plays,” Wideman said.
“Danny is an amazing athlete. Nobody doesn’t have confidence in Danny,” Holmes said. “Every time the ball is hit over there, we know he’s going to make the play.”
After West Linn went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, the Crusaders came up for their final at-bat, and again, Gabel and his teammates were up to the challenge.
Gabel got Alleman on a pop-up to right, saw Williams pop up to second, and after a walk to senior Brock Leitgeb, got Hayes on a pop-up to Curdy at third to end the game.
“That was one of the best feelings of my life,” Curdy said of his game-ending catch. “That’s just a blessing right there.”
“We put the pressure on them early,” Gabel added. “We’ve been here before. It’s our second time in the state championship game and we were just going to play our baseball. We were going to put the pressure on them and not let them put the pressure on us.”
For the game, West Linn managed just two hits against Meyer — he pitched six innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and one walk while striking out 14 — but forced four Jesuit errors in the win.
Sturm and Alleman led Jesuit at the plate, each of them going 2 for 3 in the loss.
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