Kentlake baseball collapses against Decatur in season opener
Published 9:10 am Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Playing one of the best teams in the league for their first game of the season, Kentlake Falcons looked like they could steal a win right from under the noses of the Decatur Gators on March 16. But the Gators were the ones who would leave victorious, 3-1, over the Falcons.
Head Coach Mike Suguro likened the atmosphere to the World Baseball Classic, where players are thrown into a playoff atmosphere without the preparation of a whole season.
“It’s early in the season, but guys are forced into playoff-style ball and a playoff-style atmosphere. It’s just a bummer that we aren’t built up, like the guys in the WBC. It’s still early and guys still aren’t quite there with their timing and approach. But holy cow, baseball in March and it is like that? Whew,” Suguro said.
Kentlake is in its window, especially with senior Christopher Moore toeing the slab for his senior campaign. The University of Washington signee is looking to take his team back to the state tournament after an abrupt end in the district tournament a season ago.
Moore allowed a leadoff single in the first, which came around to score on a sacrifice fly. Moore was able to limit the damage from there and finished with a stat line of 4 innings, 5 hits, one run, while punching out eight along the way. Moore showed why he is one of the top recruits and top arms in the state of Washington on a brisk, chilly night in March. His top velocity on the night was a 92 mph heater in the first inning.
In terms of getting on the bats, Kentlake struggled to find ways on base against Tyler Buol of Decatur. Buol went pitch for pitch with Moore, but with a different approach. Buol went breaking ball first, rather than fastball, which kept Kentlake off balance all night.
“We eventually started making adjustments, but it was our second at-bats vs. pitch to pitch. It’s still early, we got a lot of new guys out there. They’ll learn it has to happen quicker, but we are happy it did happen eventually,” Suguro said.
Christopher Moore was the only Falcon to record multiple hits (2) and was the only Falcon to reach base more than once as well.
Tucker Bartlett entered out of the bullpen for Moore in the fifth inning and was able to dodge some traffic on the bases in his first two innings of work. Bartlett sat Decatur down in order in the fifth and escaped a bases loaded, 1-out jam in the sixth.
“We’ve loved Tucker for so long and he finally doesn’t have guys blocking him. He’s just hit the ground running. It was so impressive to see him get out of that jam,” Suguro said.
Decatur’s one run lead held until the sixth inning, when the Falcon offense scratched their only run across. Aiden Kramlich singled to lead off the sixth and advanced to third on two wild pitches from Decatur’s Ethan Flavel.
With two outs and two strikes, Moore connected on a line drive just out of Buol’s reach at shortstop to score Kramlich and tie the game at 1.
In the seventh, Bartlett’s luck would run out. He once again loaded the bases, but this time he walked Juan Leal and hit Landon Parker, and Decatur would retire Kentlake in order in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Suguro was impressed with the level of play both teams showed this early in the season with both teams playing their first official game of the season.
“Decatur is so solid and do the little things right. They are well coached, hustle their butt off, they can hit, pitch it, throw strikes. It’s two talented teams fighting for the top of the division. It’s the team that makes the least amount of mistakes and takes care of the little things (that wins). I know we are just as talented,” Suguro said. “That is a playoff preview if I have ever seen one.”
