Quintz Whitaker named Big Nine COTY, 10 Chiefs All-Conference
MLHS Moses Lake Chiefs Baseball
MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake head baseball coach Quintz Whitaker is an extremely even-keeled person.
Never too high and never too low.
Talking to Whitaker after a win and a loss are virtually the same experience. And in a game like baseball, where one bad hop can derail a team's chances, a steadfast leader is of great importance.
So after leading Moses Lake to a 15-game win streak, a Big Nine Championship and a 4A District 6 Championship it was no surprise when Whitaker was named the Big Nine Coach of the Year.
"It's a great honor," he said. "A lot of it comes with winning the league and the boys coming through and doing their part as well. I'm just real proud of the guys that I work with. They work hard and it's a great honor for them to be able to receive that as well."
It was the second time Whitaker and the Moses Lake staff had been recognized. The first time coming in 2010, Whitaker's rookie season at the helm of the Chiefs program.
Amidst a long year, Whitaker and his staff were able to guide Moses Lake to a 15-game win streak that propelled the Chiefs to a league championship and home-field advantage in the district tournament.
Despite the added attention that the streak brought, the Chiefs never got too far ahead of themselves. The team subscribed to Whitaker's idea of breaking the season up into five-game chunks.
The Chunk Theory helped Moses Lake win 15 of its first 16 games.
The Chiefs did lose three of their last five games to close the regular season, but after those five games the slate was clear.
"Baseball is designed that way," Whitaker said. "An even keel helps you to maintain because you can't live through the valleys very well and you don't want to be falling off the peaks.
"I guess that's just kind of the way I deal with it. Obviously I think the boys know there's an intensity that burns inside of me ... I've obviously adjusted that to the time when I've played to I think what fits best for our teams."
Joining Whitaker in the postseason honors were 10 of his players.
First baseman Tyson Karstetter, second baseman Jaime Vela, third baseman Drew Loera, catcher Erick Huberdeau, outfielder Ryan Pena, designated hitter Blake Springer and starting pitcher Hunter Boyd were all named to the All-Conference First Team.
Shortstop Brett Moser, outfielder Cole Raymond and starting pitcher Chase Tunstall made the Second Team.
Karstetter was also named Honorable Mention as a starting pitcher.
With a player at every position outside of left field receiving some type of postseason recognition, it illustrated how deep the 2014 Chiefs were.
"It just shows that the other coaches recognize that we had some guys who were not only talented but then they also were able to shine through and have pretty good seasons again helped to lead us," Whitaker said. "We had a number of guys that were basically throughout the infield that were mentioned either as First Team or in some sort of All-Conference setting and so to have that and also the outfield guys and our DH. It's just nice to see it be recognized at the end of a season like that."
Among those recognized, four were juniors: Karstetter, Vela, Pena and Boyd.
Whitaker and his staff don't want Moses Lake's reign on the top of the Big Nine to be a short one. Even after finishing third in state, Wenatchee will be hungry to reclaim a league and district championship.
"We're going to have a target on our chest and I hope these guys are ready for it," Whitaker said. "Obviously we've felt the same way about Wenatchee the last couple years going in and we're just going to prepare ourselves to be that.
"I think we want to repeat and come back and do that kind of thing so I expect those guys to step up, take the role of leadership that the senior guys did."
Boyd, who took the hill for the Chiefs in the largest moments, just missed winning Pitcher of the Year to Eastmont's Jacob Crone.
The powerful right-hander will look to improve on a season that saw him either start or pitch crucial innings during the Chiefs' league championship clinching and district championship win against Wenatchee as well as the first round state playoff win against Union.
"Hunter's had success the last two years," Whitaker said. "He's been named All-Conference First Team the last two years and me and him had a little conversation already about that. 'Hey, what do we do to take the next step?'
"Obviously you can't control the Pitcher of the Year or Player of the Year or even the All-Conference teams like that. You just come out and compete and see where the chips fall.
After winning the most games in his tenure and advancing to the state quarterfinals, Whitaker will remember Moses Lake's 2014 season fondly.
"It was definitely a special season," he said. "Something we'll look back on and we've enjoyed the last couple weeks and now we're getting ready to go to work for Summer ball."
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