Big Bend earns NWAC Tournament berth for first time in 15 years

MOSES LAKE — Big Bend first-year manager Jameson Lange doesn’t lose track of any given situation during the course of a ballgame. His attention to detail and game awareness makes him a player’s coach through and through.

But Wednesday afternoon he lost track of one basic fundamental when a team secures a playoff spot for the first time in 15 years. Assistant Ryan Doumit pointed to the fence as the team gathered in short left field after sweeping Wenatchee Valley 4-2 in the opener and 3-1 in the late game.

Lange’s gaze diverted just long enough for the guys to swoop in with the Gatorade jug and douse the first-year skipper and let loose one last blast of joyous noise at the Big Bend field for one last time this season.

The Vikings (27-17, 15-11 NWAC East) dropped out of the NWAC Coaches Poll in May, but secured their place in the NWAC cross region tournament.

They still have a doubleheader with Blue Mountain on Saturday, but they’re in the tournament no matter what the seed.

“Going to the NWACs means a lot. We’ve been so stinkin’ close the past three or four years,” said Lange, who didn’t get the chance as a player, but will now manage at the tournament. “We’ve been on the other end where we’re having our end-of-the-year talk and the guys in the other dugout are yelling and screaming across the way.

“It was our standard and expectation since Day 1. I’m proud of everyone of them and their buying into what we accomplished as a team.”

The Vikings only have 10 sophomores, but how sweet it is for guys like Tyson Yamane of Warden and Cade Tunstall of Moses Lake that stayed a little closer to home to see if they couldn’t make a difference.

“We still have to win one more to go in as the third seed (from the East), but this is great for the community. Hopefully we’ll be remembered as more than baseball players,” Yamane said. “The emphasis going into the season was to be a better friend, neighbor, community member. We volunteered at the elementary schools, went to assemblies and tried doing our part in making Moses Lake a better place. This is where I call home and this is pretty special.

“As far as the baseball, I try and find a routine to stay with what got you here. For example, I leave my zipper undone when I pitch. It was an accidental thing. But I ended up doing really well, so now I do it every time and I’ll continue with it in the NWAC Tournament.”

Jordan Moreno, the big right-hander from Las Vegas, tends to keep his fly zipped when he throws. The second-game starter set a school record with 15 strikeouts to slam the door on the Knights (21-23, 8-18 NWAC East). Moreno (.347 ERA) walked four and scattered six hits in seven innings of work.

“I was locating my slider pretty well today. I was able to locate it for strikes and then locate it outside for the strikeouts,” Moreno said. “I was able to keep them guessing, if they were expecting to see slider, then I was able to throw the fastball. Throwing them the opposite of what they were expecting was the main thing.

“To make it to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years means a lot. To be a part of that is just a great feeling.”

The Vikings had to slug their way out of the NWAC East, which featured three ranked teams for most of the year. No. 1 Yakima Valley (40-8), a 40-win team, was swept by Columbia Basin and No. 5 Spokane split with Walla Walla with one more doubleheader remaining in the regular season. The Vikings go into the tournament with as good a chance as any.

“There won’t be anybody there that we haven’t at least seen in the preseason,” Lange said. “We played a 5-4 game with Tacoma, that’s only lost two games. We came back and beat an Everett team that was beating up on people.

“These guys can perform with anybody in the league and I like where we’re at.”