Rochester entered its Regional Round in Spokane as the No. 13 seed, but the Warriors made plenty of noise on the campus of Whitworth University.
The Warriors upset No. 4 Colville 6-0 before falling to No. 5 Seton Catholic 9-2 in a 1A State Quarterfinal.
In the Round of 16 matchup, Rochester and Colville were tied at zero through five innings, but the Warriors broke through with five runs in the sixth to take the lead.
Wyatt Dahl hit a two-run triple to open the scoring, Ruger Culp added an RBI single, Tyler Huston hit a sacrifice fly, and another run scored on a passed ball. An insurance run came across in the seventh on a Colville error, even though Tayden Martin didn’t seem to need it.
He threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and walking only one while striking out six.
“It was a gem,” Rochester coach Brad Quarnstrom said. “I can’t say enough about his performance this morning on the mound.”
“We played a really good, clean game,” Quarnstrom said. “It was a fun game to be a part of for sure.”
Seton Catholic saved pitcher Kolten Gesser for the quarterfinals, getting past Klahowya in its first-round matchup without needing to use him.
That allowed him to start the quarterfinal against Rochester, where he allowed just two hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out seven.
“He’s good, there’s no getting around it,” Quarnstrom said. “We knew we had our hands full going into it.”
The game was scoreless through one, but Seton Catholic scored five runs across the next two innings to take control.
Owen Driver collected Rochester’s two hits and drove in a run, and Easton Singleton also drove in a run.
Rochester finishes the season 15-9 overall, and it made its first state tournament appearance since 2014.
“I just felt like this was a cohesive team,” Quarnstrom said. “There weren’t egos. They were all competing for one another, and we grew as a group as the season progressed.”
The Warriors will graduate six seniors: Huston, Dane Akin, Culp, Martin, Dahl, and Ethan Rodriguez.
“They just led by example day in and day out and showed our young guys how to compete,” Quarnstrom said. “They got us back to where I feel like we belong.”
Among the expected returners for Rochester are Owen Driver, Singleton, and Simon Barth.
“I feel like we’ve got a good core group coming back,” Quarnstrom said. “I think good things are in our future.”
