Boulder Creek senior propels team to state semifinal
MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR ~ 5/12/2010

The Boulder Creek Jaguars will take the field at 4 p.m. Thursday at Peoria Stadium with a chance to claim the program’s first trip to the state title game.
On Saturday riding the right arm and bat of senior Bryce Eisenbart the Jaguars (26-13) moved to 3-0 in the 5A Div-II state tournament, advancing to the state semifinals with a 6-1 win over No. 3 Desert Mountain at Surprise Stadium.
A 2-for-4 performance at the plate, which included a pair of RBIs and a towering home run that easily cleared the 350 foot fence in left field, landing well up on the grassy hill, took a considerable back seat to Eisenbart’s day on the mound where he took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning.
While their No. 7 seed in the state tournament and their third place finish in the Northwest Region might not have been indicators of what has unfolded in the last week, coach Joe McDonald said he isn’t surprised at his team’s performance.
“This team has great leadership among the seniors,” he said. “This group truly understands what teamwork is all about and we just believe in our ability.”
Eisenbart, who opened the playoffs for the Jaguars with a complete game win over No. 10 Lake Havasu, in a 3-2 victory in eight innings on May 1, outdid himself on Saturday against the 19-12 Wolves.
“From the scouting reports we knew they were aggressive and maybe that I didn’t need to pound the strike zone all the time,” said the Paradise
Valley Community College bound senior.
Striking out the first two batters of the game Eisenbart, who improved to 10-3 on the season while lowering his 2.04 ERA on the season with his ninth complete game let it be known that the team from Scottsdale was in for a battle.
In support of their ace, whose bid at a no-hitter ended on a clean single to center field with two outs in the seventh inning, the Jaguars got contributions throughout
their roster.
With two outs in the second inning No. 9 hitter Joseph Fant drove in the game’s first run, scoring senior Andy Felton by ripping a double just inside the third base bag into left field.
After going quietly in the third the Jaguars would touch up Wolves pitcher Cam Teich for single runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh and a two-run frame in the fifth.
“We expect to get hitting throughout the lineup,” junior catcher Jonny Pawling said following the team’s eight-hit attack, which included hits from five different players, RBIs from four different players and runs scored by
five different players.
Pawling, the team’s leadoff hitter had one of five extra base hits, a triple to leadoff the fifth inning. When Eisenbart followed with a double to left field the Jaguars had pushed to a 3-0 lead, one that would grow later in the inning. Senior Braylon Cox, who tripled and scored in the fourth, got the team’s second of three two-out RBIs in the game with a single to center to make
the score 4-0.
That would prove plenty for Eisenbart to work with. After facing one more than the minimum through three inning the right hander would get some help from his defense to keep the no hitter intact in the bottom of the fourth.
With one out and a runner on first following a walk cleanup hitter Hunter Thompson lofted a bloop shot to right field. The runner on first, Cody Callahan, initially burst for second, but then decided that hard-charging right fielder Benji Rutan was going to be able to make a play on the ball so he darted back toward first.
A diving Rutan couldn’t make the play, but kept the ball in front of him. He quickly got to his feet and threw to second to get the force out, keeping Eisenbart’s hopes of a
no hitter alive.
After a clean fifth a tiring Eisenbart worked around a pair of sixth inning walks to take the no hitter to the seventh.
“I was feeling good for the most part, but it was hot out there,” Eisenbart said. “I had a five inning no-hitter earlier this year, but this was the deepest I’d taken one in a seven inning game. It’s a little disappointing I guess, but the win was the most important thing for sure.”
With a 6-0 advantage the only question heading to the bottom of the seventh seemed to be the outcome of Eisenbart’s no-hit bid. Right fielder Michael Janikis led things off with a chopper over the mound. On a do-or-die play a hard charging Austin Trujillo had the ball go underneath his glove and into short center field.
The official scorer charged Trujillo with an error on the play, and the Wolves also got a runner into scoring position with nobody out as the Jaguars defense was slow to retrieve the ball, allowing Janikis to make it to second. Back-to-back ground ball outs to shortstop scored Janikis, breaking up the shutout, but moving Eisenbart within one out of his second no hitter
of the season.
Instead Dylan Cosens served an Eisenbart offering back up the middle for a clean single to end the gem. One batter later though the game came to an end as the Jaguars seniors final line saw him allow one unearned run on one hit, with three walks
and three strikeouts.
“He’s unreal,” Pawling said. “It’s hard to even explain what he means to our team. He hit his spots all game long.”
McDonald agreed. “He’s as competitive of a kid as I’ve ever coached,” McDonald said. “He threw his pitches almost exactly where he wanted to throughout the game. We’ll enjoy this one tonight, but get back after it Monday preparing for the semifinals
on Thursday.”
The Jaguars opponent will be Tuesday’s winner between No. 3 Desert Mountain and No. 15 Millennium (results unavailable at press time).
In the Jaguars second round win, on May 4, they defeated the Tigers by the score of 6-3 behind a complete game victory
from Cody Jones.
As the lone undefeated team in Pool B the Jaguars opponent would have to beat them two straight games on Thursday in order to keep Boulder Creek from advancing to the state championship game. Should the Jaguars lose the first game Thursday a second game would follow at 7:30 p.m.
The state championship game is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.