Two evenly matched teams faced off at Spartan Stadium in Solon on Friday when the Washington Demon baseball team made the trip north for their opening round class 3A district contest with the 14th ranked Spartans. In the end, it was Solon that would pull out the 6-5 victory in eight innings. The Demons started the game with a pair of runs in the first. Brady Knutson singled to lead off the game, after a strikeout and a fly out, Washington did damage with two down as Trevor Quigley walked and Ethan Patterson doubled to drive in two. Things would stay that way until the third when the Spartans broke through for four to take the lead back on three hits and two walks.
The see-saw continued in the fourth, with Washington coming back to get within one as Luke Turner provided the RBI double to score Ethan Zieglowski. Washington would take a slim lead in the fifth with two runs as Quigley and Ethan Patterson found their way home on hits in the inning from Brandon Dickel and Wilx Whittoft. Down 5-4, Solon made a late charge, scoring an unearned run in the sixth to force extras. After the Demons threatened in the top half by putting two on but were unable to score, the Spartans walked off with a bases loaded walk. After the game head coach Nathan Miller talked about the seniors and season. “Coming into tonight, we talked a lot about believing in ourselves as a team and individually. Being on a mission to go to battle with one another and leaving it all out there. I thought we did that tonight. You have to tip your cap to Solon. They took advantage of some of the situations we put ourselves in. Ultimately that was the end game. Tonight offensively, we looked as good as we have in the last few weeks. We out hit them nine to seven. A lot of the credit for a performance like that goes to our seniors. We had seven that came out and set the tone daily. All seven of those guys contributed throughout the year.
Knutson and Witthoft each had a pair of hits for the Demons while Turner and Dickel supplied an RBI a piece. With the loss, Washington ends their season at 9-9. The Demons say good bye to seniors Brandon Dickel, Brady Knutson, Dillan Sanders, Caleb Tanner, Trevor Quigley, Luke Turner and Ethan Hunt. Solon moves to 14-7 on the year and will play No. 12 Clear Creek Amana Monday for the district title.