Puyallup baseball is stacked again, and looking to run the table in the 4A SPSL

When Jacob Yang steps into the batter’s box, the Puyallup High School baseball star begins a unique ritual.

The senior took advice from his teammate, Drake Anderson, who gave Yang the uncommon recommendation that aims to ease nerves and increase focus — sing a song in your head.

Regardless of how much the mental music can be attributed to Yang’s success, he’s mashing — five hits and seven RBIs, to be exact.

“When it’s just me and the pitcher … singing a song helps me keep my mind off of the attention and the pressure,” Yang said. “It just keeps me relaxed.”

But Yang is far from alone on this Puyallup team.

The Vikings, now having dismantled their first four opponents by a combined score of 53-10, are, quite simply, stacked. The ball club regularly starts players from all grade levels, and has yet to win a game by less than 10 runs.

If a state tournament had been in the cards for this season (statewide events, for the most part, were scratched due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Puyallup would be in a distinct group gunning for the Class 4A title.

Aside from Yang’s stellar start to the season, the Vikings have four college commits, along with a handful of undeclared players with offers in their back pocket.

“The guys are just excited to be able to put our purple pinstripes on, and compete, and be under the lights at Heritage,” coach Marc Wiese said. “(It) creates that Viking environment. Just go out and compete every pitch, and without having the opportunity to play high school baseball for the last couple of years, these guys are going to go out and give everything they’ve got.”

Puyallup’s depth will be and has been the key for the Vikings. But a certain mantra utilized by the players resembles a selfless group, one that further reflects in the plethora of multi-hit games, or even more so in their margins of victory — deliver the task at hand off to the next man.

“I think that’s the biggest key for us succeeding,” Yang said. “If I go to the plate … if I hand that job off to the next man behind me, whether it’s getting a walk or getting a hit, and putting that responsibility on the next man … if you just keep doing that and repeating the cycle, you’ll get runners on base. You’ll score. You’ll get the outs on defense. Just trust your teammates.”

And defensively, the Vikings have put on a clinic through three games. One of Puyallup’s right-handed power arms, Wyatt Jones, pitched nearly ten innings throughout their first two contests, allowing just two runs to opposing hitters.

Wiese says Jones has yet to show his “good stuff.”

“I really like Wyatt,” Wiese said. “Tremendous upside. … He’s been up to 90 (miles per hour). He hasn’t even had his good stuff yet, but has a tremendous breaking ball. Extremely competitive. He’s only going to get better for us as the year goes on.”

Before Puyallup won their third contest in a 15-3 thrashing of crosstown rival Rogers last week, Wiese said that the keys to victory were to “throw strikes, make plays, and play good baseball.” He said that he knew Rogers would come out and play well, and that they warranted respect.

Puyallup added another convincing 15-5 win over Sumner earlier this week — Anderson hit a grand slam and drove in five runs — and has also routed both Graham-Kapowsin (10-0) and Emerald Ridge (13-2) with a showdown against also-undefeated Olympia scheduled for Wednesday evening.

If Puyallup — with stellar pitching and consistent hitting up and down the lineup — can continue such performances, another 4A SPSL title seems imminent.

Will Cresswell and Drake Anderson are two of Puyallup’s college baseball commits, both to Washington State. Jones dominated on the mound over the stretch of two games, and Brett Ellingson put together five quality innings on the mound at Rogers.

Yang, specifically, noted a league title as a team goal, and has the confidence needed at the plate to make it happen. He’ll attend Washington, and plans to attend a private workout with the chance of landing a walk-on roster spot.

“The biggest thing is attacking the zone early as a hitter,” Yang said. “(If) the first pitch is there, I just hammer it.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.