Redmond High senior Zach Abbruzza admitted that his team was “embarrassed” by their 8-1 loss to Inglemoor last Saturday in the opening round of the 4A Kingco baseball tournament.

The Gonzaga-bound pitcher and the rest of the squad made amends for the early postseason defeat, routing the Skyline Spartans 7-0 at Woodinville High on Tuesday in a loser-out contest.

Coming on the heels of a 15-3 blowout win over Issaquah Monday, the Mustangs were in control from the get-go, as Abbruzza had a one-hitter going through four and got more than enough run support from the the Mustangs’ signature middle-of-the-lineup bats.

“He pitched great,” head coach Dan Pudwill said of Abbruzza, who was sidelined from pitching with a shoulder injury early in the season. “It’s a lot of fun when he’s out there, when our defense is involved and the game is quick. He throws a lot of strikes, and when we can get a couple runs we feel pretty confident.”

Fueled by Abbruzza’s effort, the Mustangs advance to a third straight loser-out game against Inglemoor at Woodinville High School Thursday at 4 p.m. If the Mustangs beat the Vikings, they will play a team from Wesco for the third and final spot to state at on Monday, May 16 at home (Hartman Park) at 4 p.m.

CONTAGIOUS HITTING

Skyline’s starter, southpaw Clayton Huber, kept the Mustangs in check in the first two innings, and looked to have an easy third as well, retiring Redmond’s No. 8 and 9 hitters via strikeout and pop out.

With two outs, Mustangs’ leadoff hitter Michael Conforto caught a break, barely beating out a flare over Huber’s head for an infield single.

It was just the break the opportunistic Mustangs needed to open the floodgates on the Spartans.

Abbruzza followed with a hard-hit single back up the middle, and Davis launched his eighth home run of the year — and first of the postseason — a blast to left-center that gave the Mustangs an early 3-0 lead. 

Mustangs’ cleanup hitter Peter Hendron and third baseman Patrick McGrath followed with hits to give the team five straight two-out base knocks.

“It seems contagious,” Pudwill said of the offensive outburst. “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but it seems like once one guy gets that big hit like Dylan did today, and Peter Hendron and Patrick McGrath did (on Monday), that they start to fall. Guys stop pressing so hard.”

Abbruzza, who finished with seven strikeouts and just one walk in his 86-pitch complete game, helped his own cause by driving in another run in the fourth. The Mustangs continued to play add-on in the sixth, batting around the order for three more runs, highlighted by a hard-hit ball to right-center by McGrath that glanced off the center fielder’s glove for an error that scored two.

“Today, nobody wanted our season to end and we were playing with a lot of energy,” Abbruzza noted. “When we play like this, we play with heart and we play with energy, we’re definitely a better team and that’s what happened today.”

In total, the Mustangs banged out 11 hits, led by Abbruzza’s 3-for-4 night that raised his season batting average to .478.

Dylan Davis’ 2-for-4 effort with a home run gave him three RBIs on the day and Nick Rothermel checked in with the other multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a double.

BUILDING BELIEF

The Mustangs knew after last Saturday’s defeat that they had a tough road ahead to get back into contention for a state berth.

Two wins in two loser-out situations and 22 runs later, the team is playing with a renewed confidence that they look to take into their game against Inglemoor at 4 p.m. on Thursday in yet another loser-out game.

“We gotta believe in ourselves, and believe that we can still do this,” Pudwill said. “That belief builds with each win… and we’ve put ourselves right back in it, more or less. Thursday’s (game) is gonna be a big one, and then we’ll see what happens after that.”

The Mustangs will hope that the third time is the charm against the Vikings, a team that has outscored Redmond 15-2 in two wins earlier this year, largely behind the starting pitching of ace Dustin Doucette, who is expected to start on Thursday.

On Tuesday night right after Redmond left the field, Inglemoor scored four runs in the seventh inning to complete a thrilling 9-8 comeback win over Woodinville, ending the Falcons’ season.

Both teams will be brimming with confidence going into Thursday’s contest, the winner of which will take on a team from Wesco for the third and final spot to state.

“We felt it was important to come out and make a statement, but we want to win two more after this and make the state playoffs,” Abbruzza said. “Our goals are high, and we don’t want our season to end.”

Added Davis, “You want to play as hard as you can because it could be your last game of high school. We want to give it our all, all the seniors, and I know all the juniors want it for us too. We just gotta play hard all the time.”