EVERETT — Gonzaga Prep defeated No. 1 Richland 5-2 in the State 4A baseball semifinal at Funko Field on May 18, advancing to its first-ever state championship game. The win secured the Bullpups a matchup against No. 2 Sumner in the title game on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Dylan Croall pitched a complete game for Gonzaga Prep, allowing two runs—one earned—on six hits and three walks while striking out five. He ended the game by striking out Dylan Parrott on a called third strike. Croall, the Greater Spokane League’s pitcher of the year, is headed to Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Arizona, next year.

Jackson Mott opened the third inning with a home run, giving Gonzaga Prep early momentum. “Two-strike hole and hit a home run. I guess that's pretty cool,” Mott said. “I kind of blacked out on adrenaline, I'll be honest. Just fired up.”

“That's a big swing that helped separate things, and obviously we watched the dugout blow up a little bit too. It created a whole lot of momentum,” Gonzaga Prep coach Brian Munhall said. “That's the little stuff in baseball that you constantly talk about. We've yelled at our outfielders all year to make their throws cuttable, and in that moment, that's a huge game changer.”

“We've earned the right to be here. Absolutely,” Croall said. “We beat Richland twice, we beat everyone else. There's no reason for us to not be here. I mean, we've done everything possible to earn this.” His other remark captured his disbelief: “I'm still not over it. I mean, it still feels like I'm in the seventh inning, and I'm just... you know, I can't even get my words together.”

“When you play like that, you're supposed to be here,” he said. “And it was top to bottom.” He also noted, “We respect the heck out of them and their traditions and what they've done, and we would love our program to be at the place that theirs is annually. For them to win the big games and to be in them all the time is great. But we're excited that it's our turn.”

Gonzaga Prep had previously beaten Richland 3-2 in the District 6 title game on May 16. The Bullpups are the 15th team from the Greater Spokane League to reach a baseball “final four,” though no team from the league has won a state championship since the tournament was sanctioned in 1973.

“Obviously we're the underdog, and I think being the underdog kind of takes some pressure on your back,” Mott said. “Once you get on the field and you're in the moment, everything kind of goes away and you just start playing.”

“My mindset going into the game was 'You're better than everyone, and you've got to prove that,'” Croall said. “And I did it.”

“We've known for years Croall was going to be a guy,” Munhall said. “We knew he's one of the better arms in Spokane, but it's pretty nice that he saved his best outing of his career for the biggest moment, because that was electric.”