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Shorewood Baseball Faces Difficult Task in Unbeaten Camas

Shorewood faces undefeated Camas in the semifinal round of the 3A state baseball playoffs.

The Shorewood High School baseball team will face off against Camas in the semifinal round of the 3A state baseball playoffs at 10 a.m. Friday at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma. The teams finished the regular season ranked 1-2 in the Seattle Times state baseball rankings and the winner of the game will most likely be the favorite to win the 3A state title. Patch takes a look at the matchup in three categories in the leadup to the game.

Pitching

Shorewood head coach Wyatt Tonkin made no attempt to hide his teams strategy at the start of the year: pitching and defense. So far in 2011, the pitching part of the Thunderbirds has been on point. Shorewood's top-two pitchers in terms of innings, Blake Snell and Henry McAree, have combined to allow just 18 earned runs in 109 2/3 innings, with Snell striking out 118 on the year.

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Camas rolls out a pitching staff that has played a big part in helping the Papermakers remain unbeaten on the season. Camas is led by UC-Santa Barbara-commit Kurt Yinger, who is  a perfect 9-0 on the season. The Papermakers staff as a whole had an ERA under 1.60 on the season.

Advantage: Shorewood.

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Hitting

Camas may have an impressive pitching staff, but its real weapon is its offensive arsenal. The Papermakers average nearly ten runs per game and put up 28 in the first two games of the tournament. Camas is led by power-hitting Austin Barr, who could be take in the Major League Baseball draft this June.

Shorewood is no slouch in the hitting department, with a team batting average of .351. But much of the offensive load falls onto top prospect Trevor Mitsui's shoudlers. Mitsui is hitting a mind-boggling .712 on the season and hits a homerun an average of once every four at-bats. Mitsui leads the team with 13 homeruns and an .845 on-base percentage. Duncan Hendrickson also hits for power, batting .455 on the season with 27 RBI's.

Advantage: Camas.

Experience

Both teams fell just short of the state title last season, with Shorewood finishing fourth in the 4A division, while Camas took second in the 3A class.

Camas returned 10 players from last years squad, while Shorewood brought back 14, including seven starters. Needless to say, neither team is going to be intimidated by the circumstances of the semifinal round.

Avdantage: Even.

Shorewood and Camas will play on Friday at 10 am at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.

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