Decatur baseball falters in final four

Published 10:10 am Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Anticipation hadn’t been higher for Chris Fox and his Decatur Gators. They reached the state semifinals for just the third time in school history, the first time since 2014.

All that stood in their way was the No. 17 Eastside Catholic Crusaders (18-12). Decatur struggled from the first pitch against the Crusaders, and in its third semifinal appearance, failed to make the championship, falling 7-1 on May 29 at Funko Field in Everett.

Decatur’s two previous final four appearances were 2014 in which the Gators lost to South Kitsap 5-0 and in 1988 fell to Walla Walla 9-4.

But this year, Decatur’s baseball team had a different energy about the group. It was one of the most talented teams left in the tournament, a lineup that top to bottom could score against the best arms in the state.

What they didn’t account for was the hottest team in the state causing problems from the first pitch of the game. Dylan Reano was handed the ball from Fox and given the opportunity to start the biggest game of the season. “We have three 1A pitchers. That was kind of a gut feeling, Dylan has stepped up to take that role and he wanted it. As a senior I want to give him that opportunity, he is our senior leader. He didn’t come out as crisp as we thought and that is kind of a coaching nightmare in a situation like that,” Fox said.

Reano struggled and threw just the first inning, needing 47 pitches to get through the first inning. An inning that saw three runs come across and a team that needed no extra momentum in Eastside Catholic, now was playing with fire.

Eastside Catholic’s offense rode that first inning momentum and played ‘add-on’ in the second inning with a two spot. Trailing 5-0 in after the first two innings, was nothing Decatur hadn’t done before. They trailed 4-0 to White River in the district tournament before scoring 20 unanswered runs. But the bats just never woke up for the home team. “I still thought we could come back and score runs because that is what we do, being down three or four we thought we would be okay,” Fox said. “I was hoping Tyler (Buol) could come through and we could scratch some runs across but we could just not get to Baxter tonight.”

Fox went immediately to Tyler Buol who racked up over 50 innings this season, a standout pitcher for Decatur this season. Buol mitigated the damage allowing three runs on five hits across 5.2 in the semifinal.

But the decision to go with Reano is one Fox doesn’t think twice about if he has to do it all over.

Decatur’s bats struggled mightily against Eastside Catholic’s Jay Baxter. The right handed senior had his own marks of excellence this season, but was on another level against Decatur.

It wasn’t like Baxter was keeping Decatur off the bases, the Gators had first and second with one out in the bottom of the first. But Baxter was able to induce weak contact all night. “I don’t know if we made him sweat. He controlled the zone, I don’t think he walked anybody. We knew he was going to be around the zone, he’s good. He’s their ace and there is a reason he’s thrown 1,000 pitches it looked like he could throw 1,000 more,” Fox said.

Reano was hit with a pitch in the bottom of the fourth and at that time, Baxter had retired seven in a row.

The Gators managed to score their one run in the fourth, with bases loaded CJ Gatterson drove home Reano with a ground out. Immediately after, Juan Leal bounced a ball to the first baseman to end the inning stranding two runners on.

Decatur as a baseball school is looking to turn a corner. Losing just three starting players from this year’s team leaves a lot of hope on the table for Fox. This year’s group will always be special because of how close this team got from game one to game 26.

“You left a legacy for these freshmen about chasing victory and what it takes. You have now set the groundwork for this program to take off,” Fox said.

He even had freshman Julian Picinich throw the final inning, a signal for the future of what Decatur baseball will look like. “He’s our future. I think for us next year, we are going to be completely different. We are going to pitch, have speed, we won’t hit for the power we had this year because we are losing a couple of our middle order guys,” Fox said. “But I think we got a shot to get back here, just in a much different way.”