Sunset gets its Class 6A title-game revenge, wins first baseball state championship since 1994

KEIZER—A year earlier, on the same field, Sunset had let a chance to end its state baseball championship drought of three decades pass it by.

On Saturday, the Apollos made sure it didn’t happen a second time.

Gabe Coltman went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and a run scored in Saturday’s OSAA Class 6A final, leading Sunset to a thrilling 6-5 victory over Grant at Roto-Rooter Stadium in Keizer.

Parker Raubach earned the victory on the mound and senior designed hitter Gavin Riley drove in what proved to be the winning run for the Apollos (22-9), who not only captured their first title since 1994, they exorcised a demon: Sunset reached last year’s state final but fell to three-time champ West Linn 8-4.

That painful loss had haunted the Apollos all season, but it also fueled their run to the 2025 crown.

“We had a lot of weight on us after last year,” senior pitcher/third baseman Dakota Chun said. “It felt good to finally get it off our shoulders.”

Sunset had entered the season ranked No. 1 in the state, according to coach John Barnes. However, the Apollos entered the playoffs as a No. 11 seed before battling their way back to their second straight state final.

“Every time we stepped on the field, we had a target on our backs,” Barnes said, his voice cracking slightly as he fought back tears of joy. “I told our kids, ‘The pressure is a privilege. Embrace it.’”

In ending its title drought, Sunset extended Grant’s much longer one for at least one more season. The ninth-seeded Generals (22-8) haven’t won a state title since the Eisenhower administration, last lifting the championship trophy in 1958.

“It’s tough when you have a really cool opportunity in front of you like that to be so close and not win it,” Grant coach Matt Kabza said. “It stings a little bit.

“That being said, the ride we’ve been on these past two weeks with our coaches and players has been an incredible run filled with amazing big moments, unforgettable memories and the love these guys had for each other. The way they came together as a group – they call themselves a family – is pretty special. I’m gonna miss these guys.”

Grant came agonizingly close to breaking through, battling back from a four-run deficit with two out in the sixth inning to pull within a run.

The Generals pushed three runs across and had the bases loaded with cleanup hitter Diego Martinez-Griffin at the plate. However, after the first three batters he faced got on base — one of them being senior Kaeden Cruse, Oregon’s Class 6A State Player of the Year, who collected an RBI when he was inadvertently hit by a pitch with the bases full — Chun induced a flyout to senior left fielder Max Waldrip to end the inning.

“We had the right guy in the right spot,” Kabza said. “Sometimes you hit it where they are instead of where they ain’t. That was a tough one.”

Sunset’s escape set the stage for a dramatic seventh inning in which 6-foot-8 closer Kruz Schoolcraft earned the final save of his high school career. The University of Tennessee-committed left-handed pitcher, who is a projected top-10 pick in next month’s Major League Baseball draft, yielded a single to the first batter he faced. However, after helping ensnare the runner in a pickle to foil an attempted steal for the first out, Schoolcraft struck out the next batter and got the Grant’s final hitter to ground out to freshman second baseman Marcus Pollard to seal the win.

“He wanted the baseball (in that moment),” Barnes said of Schoolcraft. “It was a great way for him to go out.”

Schoolcraft might have pitched more had Oregon rules not prevented him from doing so. Having pitched against McMinnville in the state semifinals, the departing senior was only available for 25 pitches against Grant.

“Only if we were up by one was I going to be coming in,” Schoolcraft said. “I’m super pumped that I was able to do it in front of my family.”

In earning the victory for Sunset, Raubach allowed just one earned run in 5.2 innings. The junior right-hander outdueled Grant senior Cooper Yudhishthu, the Portland Interscholastic League Pitcher of the Year who entered the game with a 1.92 earned run average.

At the plate, however, it was Coltman who repeatedly came through. The senior right fielder drove in Sunset’s first run in the top of the first inning, bringing home Schoolcraft — who had led off with a game-opening double — to put the Apollos up 1-0.

That lead held up until the fourth inning, when Grant scored a pair of unearned runs to move in front. Senior right fielder Tre Hoffert knotted the score at 1-1 when he belted a triple to center that scored sophomore Grant Snidow. Hoffert then scored the go-ahead run, giving the Generals their only lead when senior left fielder Rafferty Cruikshank reached on an error.

Coltman erased the Generals’ lead in the top of the fifth, smacking a two-run triple to center that brought home Schoolcraft and junior Luke Sullivan to put the Apollos up 3-2. Coltman advanced to third on a throwing error, then scored on a base hit by Chun.

“I’m always looking for a moment to make a change in the game,” Coltman said of his key hits. “Whatever I’m doing in practice, I’m dreaming of those clutch moments.”

Following a ground-rule double by senior center fielder Cole Sauter that moved Chun to third, Riley stroked a two-run single, plating Sauter with what ultimately proved to be the winning run.

Senior catcher Brady McCarthy led Grant offensively with two hits and an RBI.

While he called his team’s championship breakthrough “gratifying,” Barnes said the real joy comes from the ride getting there.

“The championship is the icing on the cake,” the Sunset coach said. “But it’s all about the journey. The journey is what you do it for.”

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