Senior starting pitchers Tyler May and Tyler Hoelzen have garnered a lot of the attention this season for the Douglas baseball team.
After all, with a combined 15-2 record on the mound, it'd be hard not to notice them.
On the back of twin 10-strikeout, two-walk gems from May and Hoelzen to open the regional tournament. junior No. 3 starter Michael Whalin, though, came up with a pretty big game of his own Thursday afternoon, holding McQueen to three hits while striking out six and walking none as Douglas picked up a 6-1 victory at Wooster High.
The win pushed Douglas into Saturday's regional title game against the Reno Huskies at 1 p.m. at Reno High.
"I've kind of been working in the shadow of those two guys all season, which is how I like it," Whalin said. "I just like kind of coming out of nowhere like that. For some reason, today I just came out a lot more focused than usual. I just felt great, had a couple of days of rest under me and it went pretty well."
The performance was certainly impressive to Douglas coach John Glover.
"Unbelievable," Glover said. "That's the best I've seen him pitch all year. He was under 80 pitches in a seven-inning game. Great game, I don't think he game up three balls to a hitter. He threw strikes and other than a couple of plays, the defense played really well behind him.
"It was just a great game."
McQueen had pulled off a come-from-behind 11-10 upset win over Damonte Ranch earlier in the day to get to the afternoon game. The Lancers came into the game having won two consecutive contests in the bottom of the seventh inning.
"We knew we had to play a game today, whoever it was going to be," Glover said. "McQueen is a good ball club. They are aggressive and they can come back on you. They did it against Spanish Springs yesterday and they did it again today. They just battled, I wasn't too surprised to see them."
May went 3-for-3 at the plate with a triple and two runs scored to lead the Tigers at the plate. Tanner Thomas was 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs and Tim Rudnick and Troy Torres each had an RBI. Kameron Van Winkle added a double.
"McQueen beat the last two teams in the last innig, so we were just looking for a way to win the game and keep things going," Thomas said. "Keep going and get to another game, that's all we're thinking about."
The title game matchup will represent the fifth between the Huskies and the Tigers this season and eighth in the last two years.
"It's one of those deals, you just go play the game and whatever happens, happens," Glover said. "At this point in the season, everyone knows about everyone else, so there aren't too many surprises left."
Douglas has plenty of options on the mound heading into the title game with four innings remaining for May, Hoelzen and Whalin. The Tigers haven't brought top relievers Tim Rudnick and Kameron Van Winkle out yet in the tournament.
"It'll be a well though out process," Glover said. "We'll figure it out and whoever we send out there, we'll feel good about."
"We just have to come out and play hard," Thomas said. "It's always a way with us. They're a really tough team. We just have to stay focused on playing like we can."
