Nobody hands out state championships for free.

Those things don’t come easy.

The top-ranked Wilsonville baseball team found that out big-time on Friday, May 30, needing a walk-off double from senior Wade Hagey in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat No. 8 Corvallis 4-3 in the Class 5A state quarterfinals at Wilsonville High School.

“(I feel) amazing,” said Hagey, who went 1 for 2 at the plate with a double and one RBI. “I haven’t had a walk-off in my high school career so this was the time to do it.”

“Honestly, I’m super happy. We just stayed confident all the way through,” said Wildcat junior Grady Weise, who got the win after pitching the final 4.1 innings and allowing two runs on two hits and three walks while striking out six. “I’m super proud of our guys. We were relentless throughout the game – didn’t get too far down, didn’t get too far up – just stayed steady and I think that’s really good.”

“We didn’t play our greatest today – the bats didn’t get going until the fifth – but it’s great to come out with a win,” said senior center fielder Connor Johnston, who went 1 for 2 at the plate with two walks and two runs scored.

With the win, the top-ranked Wildcats’ 29th straight, Wilsonville improved to 29-0 after winning the Northwest Oregon Conference. Next up, the Cats will host No. 5 Summit (21-6 overall after finishing second in the Southwest Conference) in the state semifinals at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 3, at Wilsonville High School. The Storm earned its spot in the semifinals by beating No. 13 Dallas 9-6 in the quarterfinals.

Corvallis, meanwhile, saw its one-game winning streak snapped and ended its year at 21-8 after winning the Mid-Willamette Conference. The Spartans were led by sophomore Roy Bannister (he went 1 for 3 with one RBI, and also pitched six innings, allowing two runs on two hits and five walks while striking out four) and junior Andrew Street (1 for 3 with one RBI).

Corvallis scratched across single runs in the second and fifth innings to lead 2-0, loading the bases without a hit before Bannister notched an RBI single in the second, while senior Axel Prechel walked and later scored on a double steal in the fifth to lead 2-0.

The Wildcats pushed ahead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, though, taking advantage of four walks and a two-run error on a grounder by senior Owen Eggert to lead 3-2.

Corvallis answered to tie the game 3-3 in the top of the seventh when sophomore Ben Weiss reached on an error, took third on a balk and scored when Street hit a sacrifice fly to center.

Undaunted, the Wildcats answered in their half of the seventh, getting a walk by Johnston, a sacrifice bunt from freshman Beau Johnson, an intentional walk to senior Mark Wiepert, and finally, a double down the right field line on the first pitch to Hagey.

“With my pitching, I did not have my stuff today … so I thought the least I could do was get a ball in play and try to get that run back for us,” Hagey said. “I saw it hooking and I was praying it would stay fair and it stayed fair.”

“Wade didn’t have his best today, but he came in and stepped up. It’s just the next man up mentality,” Johnston said. “(His hit) was huge.”