One way out now after the Mount Rainier Rams, the state's best rated baseball team all season, lost to Union opening districts. Win!

Mount Rainier's boys of spring must summon up inside themselves the will and the way to win or, the truth is, the Rams, the state's week two on state 3A ranked No. 1 baseball team, will be done.

Losing to the Vancouver, Wash. squad, the Southwest league's No. 2 seed Union Titans, didn't knock the Rams out of the district playoffs but it did put the Des Moines school in a loser-out game after what was an 11-1 loss in opening SPSL/Olympic/Seamount/Southwest district diamond action at Kent Memorial Park Tuesday.

"We have to be better than that," said head coach Darren Rawie, lamenting this loss and the loss before to Enumclaw.

But just win this next game versus Olympic at 7 p.m. Wednesday tonight and the Rams will be on to the next stage, finishing this phase of districts no worse than the No. 7 seed to the state's final 16 "regionals" competition starting next Saturday, May 22 at venues all across Western and Eastern Washington.

At least that's how the Rams played ball this past regular season, going to 16-0 in the Seamount League and 19-1 overall. Union was a 15-8 record team, having just lost to Camas in its SW league championship game, 12-4, five days played before this one versus the Rams.

The Titans' league finale was played two days before the Seamount champ, Rams, pitted skills against the SPSL 3A regular season champ, Enumclaw, on Saturday.

It's not right to use excuses, but in baseball pitching is so important and the Rams used a lot of theirs up against Enumclaw in that 10-inning, 8-7, loss.

Two days less rest (for pitching), please note too.

Going back to that Enumclaw game, the Rams, after having used their non-best throwers the first two innings, found themselves in a 6-1 hole. It was then that Rawie went to ace Jeff Larabee, with one out in the third inning, and Larabee was inserted to pitch with the bases loaded.

Well, it took energy, but Larabee via a double play got out of that jam and went on to give up only one run (a solo home run) the next 5 2/3 innings of pitching work. But Larabee was tired from that game and the Rams' No. 1 hurler was not much available for the Union game as a result.

So, Union, on the flipside of this pitching equation, lost their league championship easily to Camas, not expending energy for a comeback -- like the Rams had to do -- or using a lot of pitching -- like the Rams had to do. The Titans went down easy to Camas without a fight.

What did it mean? It meant the Rams did not have their No. 1 starter available for the Union district opener for much more than "short duty," as Rawie put it.

And Union? Union had two extra days rest and its No. 1, or maybe, with a score like that, Union may have even threw it's No. 2 pitcher against Camas, ready to go against the Rams.

Just doesn't seem right does it?

Rawie did not outright say that the pitching match-up favored Union, but he did say...

"We could have used Jeff (Larabee) in this game, but he was available only for short duty today," said Rawie. "We needed our starter to go deeper into the game."

Larabee was more or less not available against Union, certainly not for much work on the mound.

So, that's just speaking truth, and the starter for the Rams against Union was the capable Josh Potter, but not the team's ace. Potter gave it all he had against Union. He pitched strong through three innings, gaining a 2-1 Union lead through three frames. Then, in the fourth inning -- following what was a Jordan Thornton bunt base hit in the Rams' bottom of the third and subsequent Kevin Smith RBI single-Potter allowed the Union leadoff hitter of the inning to double and then Potter walked the next batter.

Potter was able to make a nice play for the third batter up of that inning as Potter moved right of the mound for a ball cut into the dirt forward 20 feet. Potter spun with the baseball scooped up and, running the other direction (toward third base), backpedaling, threw a hard strike to first base for the out.

But Potter, who pitched two innings (9th and 10th innings) against Enumclaw in that long, three-hour SPSL 3A/Seamount championship, was struck by the next batter for a 2-RBI double that made it 4-1.

The damage was done, three runs down, with the Union ace hurling well, and, this would be Potter's last inning pitching, too, despite the fact he got the next two Union batters out on flyballs. Yes, the damage was done. Fans began to talk about the next game as Potter did not come back out in the fifth and Camas tacked on another run to make it 5-1.

But what if the Rams had not had to play Enumclaw in that game three days earlier, did not have to expel so much energy? The Rams not only used up a lot of pitching power in that game, but also hitting power as they rallied from 6-1 down in the second inning to take a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fourth.

"The game Saturday (versus Enumclaw) I think did effect the energy of our team," said Rawie. "Some emotion left us Saturday."
Rawie was not leaving excuses on the field, just speaking the reality of having to play a hard-fought, emotionally exhausting game on a

Saturday night that was supposed to start at 7 p.m. and didn't get started until 7:45 p.m. and went until 10:45 pm. That's a long game, and losing really accentuates that "long."

Anyway, the Union game is over, Potter was tired for it, and, he admitted just not quite there. The run, by the way, Union scored first, was off a walk, single, walk, to start the inning. This proves tiredness more than anything else as those three hitters were the no. 7, no. 8, and, no.9, batters in the order. A walk then with the bases loaded made it 1-0, Union.

Potter didn't say he was tired out there but he did say he was not pitching like he wanted.

"My problem was I left the ball up high," said Potter.

Rawie commented the same thing, saying more of the same of what he said before of Potter needing to go deeper into the game for the Rams to have a chance in this one.

"Our pitcher did not have command of the strike zone, way too many free passes (nine walks total given up (five by Potter), and, not able to get off the plate (hit the ball)."

So, now, the Rams have Larabee back, ready to go, and in time to just forget about everything else as Potter said, "Tomorrow will be a better day."

That's today (against Olympic). Only one thing left to say. It better.