Highline Battles Nathan Hale at T-Mobile Park

April 19 Game Recap: High School Baseball Classic at T-Mobile Park.

by Jake KnightBurien-News Sports Writer.T-Mobile Park, looking as gorgeous as ever with the retractable roof wide open on a perfect spring afternoon in Seattle, played host to one of the iterations of the High School Baseball Classic between Highline High School and Nathan Hale High School on Friday. The teams delivered a highly competitive game on the biggest of stages. Throughout the game, there were points where both teams seemed destined to secure the victory, but Nathan Hale edged Highline 7-6 by way of the walk-off in the bottom of the seventh inning.There was no shortage of incredible individual performances from the Highline Pirates, headlined by the player who has been putting out great performances all year long, Hawke Hansen. He did it both at the dish and on the bump, but we start with Hawke Hansen, the pitcher.Head coach Jonny Locher handed the ball to Hansen to start in the biggest regular season game of the year, and the junior rose to the occasion; it started with the first out of the game. Nathan Hale's leadoff batter hit a sharp ground ball up the middle with eyes for center field before Hansen threw out his foot, deflecting the ball in front of him and quickly recovering to grab the ball and throw out the runner.He gave up a single to the next batter but retired the next two on a couple of flyouts to finish the first inning unscathed. Hansen followed in the second with his best inning of his three on the mound, sandwiching a routine groundout between a pair of strikeouts, one looking and one swinging.Hawke Hansen strikeout:[videopress JlEDEUU2]Hansen gave up the one and only run he allowed in the bottom of the third, but did everything in his power to stop the run from scoring. With two outs and runners at the corners, the runner at first took off towards second before the pitch. Hansen stepped off and ran the runner down until the runner from third broke for home. Hansen turned and fired a strike to home, and catcher Jo-Jo Barron applied the tag, but the runner slid and snuck his foot to the plate just in time to score the run. Prior to that, in the top half of the inning, Hansen collected what was already his second hit of the game to lead off the frame and steal second, as he did in the first inning. Trenton Savage lined an opposite-field single to left to move Hansen to third, and with the infield drawn in, Barron smacked a grounder from the second baseman's reach to bring home the first run of the game.With the game all square at one run apiece going into the fourth, Highline called upon their ace Trenton Savage to hold Nathan Hale where they stood.Savage gave up a run on a long triple over right fielder Jaylen Simpson's head to score the runner from first to give Nathan Hale a 2-1 lead.Highline responded immediately at the top of the fifth. Hansen collected another base hit and again wasted no time stealing second base to put the tying run in scoring position. Barron lined a single to right field to again put runners on the corners for the Pirates. Nathan Hale tried to pick off Barron at first, but a wide throw got past the first baseman and up the line far into foul territory. Hansen strolled home and Barron cruised to third base with one out in the inning. Zennen Luiz then hit a deep fly ball to right field that scored Barron easily, flipping the game to now put Highline on top 3-2. Savage did what every coach wants their ace to do the inning after taking the lead. In just 11 pitches in the bottom of the fifth, Savage pitched a clean 1-2-3 inning with a couple of strikeouts along the way.But the road got bumpy in the bottom of the sixth. Two singles, the inning ended up at second and third after Savage balked to advance the runners. With the infield in to try and stop the tying run from scoring, Highline committed their only error of the game on a ground ball to second base, and the game was tied. In yet another first and third action play, something this game was full of, Savage picked to first base, but the runner was stealing on the first move. First baseman Roman Easter ran down the runner before tossing the ball to Hansen at second, who would get his revenge for coming up just short trying to throw a runner out at home earlier in the game. In a copy-paste of the other play, the runner from third sprinted for home, but this time, Hansen's strike to the plate was in time, and Barron did a good job securing the ball through the tag to keep the game tied. Savage retired the next two batters to send the game to the final frame in regulation, which was all knotted up.The top of the Pirates order was due up and delivered in a big way. Easter cranked a double down the left field line and advanced to third on a wild pitch in the next at-bat. Hansen worked a walk and once again stole second base. With runners on second and third, Savage looped a ball that fell in right field to score a run and take the lead in the top of the seventh, but the Pirates weren't done. Barron tapped a ball in front of home plate, and the catcher bounced out to make the play at first, but reading the play the whole way, Hansen broke from third as soon as the throw was made, sliding into home before the return throw made it back to put the Pirates up by a couple.Hansen headfirst slide into home:

Hansen finished his day at the plate 3-3 with four stolen bases and three runs scored to go on top of his solid start on the mound. Not everybody gets the chance to show what they can do on a big-league field and Hansen showed why he belongs on big stages. "It's awesome to see what it's like to be in the majors because that's everyone's dream someday," Hansen said. "I'm just really grateful that we had this opportunity!"Highline tacked on another run for good measure. Savage stole second and third in the inning to put him in position to score on a wild pitch. Heading into the bottom of the last inning, Highline led by three, the biggest lead of the game. Locher gave Zennen Luiz a chance to close out the game now that the Pirates had a three-run cushion. Unfortunately, Luiz did not have it this outing. Without recording an out, Luiz walked the first four batters and hit the next three. Nathan Hale left the game in the seventh without putting a ball in play. Although the game ended as it did, Highline, a 2A school going up against 3A Nathan Hale, played a complete baseball game until the end; Locher wants his players to remember how well they performed."We played a great game with a fluke inning," Locher said. "The important thing is to stick together and keep building on the way we played."The High School Baseball Classic is much less about the result than it is about the chance for high schoolers to live out their lifelong dream of playing on the same surface as all the players they grew up watching---the same field that Ichiro Suzuki, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Felix Hernandez, Julio Rodriguez, and so many other fantastic baseball talents have played. Highline played between the same lines and got to be those guys for a day. The Highline players should be extremely proud of the way they showed out in an opportunity so many can only imagine.Two games remain for Highline before the regular season comes to an end, the next being a home game Monday night against Foster at 5 pm.

Professional Photo Gallery with 144 spectacular action shots and video clips from the April 19, 2024 game:

Courtesy of Christian Bringolf Photography. Click HERE for all game day images.[caption id="attachment_16452" align="aligncenter" width="605"]

Pirates T-Mobile Game 4/19/24 (credit Christian Bringolf Photography)[/caption][caption id="attachment_16450" align="aligncenter" width="400"]

Pirates T-Mobile Game 4/19/24 (credit Christian Bringolf Photography)[/caption][caption id="attachment_16449" align="aligncenter" width="665"]

Pirates T-Mobile Game 4/19/24 (credit Christian Bringolf Photography)[/caption][caption id="attachment_16448" align="aligncenter" width="669"]

Pirates T-Mobile Game 4/19/24 (credit Christian Bringolf Photography)[/caption]Complete HIGHLINE PIRATES T-MOBILE Collection by Christian Bringolf Photography:https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/f85e2524a72a45c78d2b28bb6479b50b