The streak is dead

And the dream is alive.

In this case, the streak – the Wilsonville baseball team’s 29-game winning streak – is dead after Summit upset the Wildcats 9-2 in the Class 5A state semifinals at Wilsonville High School on Tuesday, June 3.

But the dream – the Storm’s hopes of a 2025 state championship – is very much alive after Summit upset the top-ranked Wildcats on their home field and secured a berth in the 5A title game on Saturday, June 7.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats remained focused on all of their many accomplishments in 2025.

“We just had a great team. Everybody was great to each other,” said Wilsonville senior center fielder Connor Johnston, who went 2 for 3 at the plate with a triple and one run scored. “We bonded really well as a team, but it sucks to end like this.”

“I’m proud of this team,” said Wildcat senior catcher Mark Wiepert, who went 2 for 3 at the plate with one run and one RBI. “But it’s baseball, so good for them. It is what it is. It takes a little bit of luck – sometimes it takes a lot of luck – and that’s how it goes.”

“Summit swung it today. They had some moon shots. Props to them,” added Wilsonville senior first baseman/pitcher Wade Hagey, who went 2 for 3 with a triple and one RBI. “They’re a good team. That’s baseball for you.”

With the loss, top-ranked Wilsonville’s first, the Wildcats saw their 29-game winning streak snapped and ended the year at 29-1 after winning the Northwest Oregon Conference.

Fifth-ranked Summit, meanwhile, won for the seventh straight time and improved to 22-6 over after finishing second in the Intermountain Conference. Next up, the Storm will face No. 3 Canby in the 5A state championship game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Roto Rooter Park (formerly Volcanoes Stadium) in Keizer.

The Cougars (25-5 overall after finishing second in the Northwest Oregon Conference) earned their spot in the title contest by upsetting second-ranked Thurston 2-0 at Thurston High School on Tuesday.

The Storm was led by senior pitcher Alex Via (he pitched seven innings and limited Wilsonville to two runs on six hits and one walk while striking out seven), junior left fielder Jackson Parker (he went 2 for 4 at the plate with a three-run homer, one run scored and five RBIs) and senior center fielder Slater De Brun (he went 1 for 2 with two runs scored and one RBI).

After a scoreless first inning, the Storm took control of the game in the top of the second when senior third baseman Tanner McIntyre hit a solo home run to left field off Wilsonville senior starter Colby Kosderka.

Things got worse for the Wildcats in the third, too, with Summit breaking free for four runs and a commanding 5-0 lead. Highlights from that at-bat were Parker’s two-run bloop single to center and De Brun’s RBI single to right.

But after three more scoreless innings, the Wildcats finally began to show some life on offense. They rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth, getting a triple to center by Johnston, an RBI single up the middle from Wiepert and a run-scoring triple to center by Hagey to close within 5-2.

But Via got Wilsonville senior Owen Eggert out on a hard line drive to senior second baseman Nolan Boehm and senior Christian Epping on a grounder to McIntyre to strand Hagey and limit the damage to two runs.

The Storm then poured across another four runs in the top of the seventh to seal their victory, getting a three-run Parker homer to left and a run-scoring bloop double down the right field line from senior Preston Sexson.

Via then set the Wildcats down in order in the bottom of the seventh to end the contest.

While disappointed with the loss, the Wildcats said they remained proud of their 2025 season.

“All of us are just playing like little kids, playing and having fun this year,” Hagey said. “We were having fun last year, but this year, we just played so loose. Even when we were down, like last game against Corvallis, we kept our heads up. We just stuck in it.”

“Obviously, we had a lot of talent on this team, but I think the overarching thing was that a lot of guys had a lot of fun this year,” Wiepert added. “That was just a super special thing to be a part of. All our guys were playing free and just trusting each other.”