Summit baseball claws its way to 5A state title victory over Canby

Published 12:59 am Sunday, June 8, 2025

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Summit senior Slater De Brun reacts after getting hit by a pitch against Canby in the 5A state championship game June 7 at Roto Rooter Field in Keizer. (Austin White/Bend Bulletin)

In the eyes of Summit High School baseball head coach Aaron Boehm, there were two championships won by the Storm on Saturday night at Roto Rooter Field in Keizer.

The third-year head coach, and nine-year assistant, has seen some of the eight seniors of the 2025 class grow from their T-ball days to scratching out five runs against Canby in the state championship game, including his son Nolan.

In the field, Summit was lights out behind three different pitchers who allowed only five hits and one run with only one error.

Add it all up and it was a 5-1 5A state-title victory for the Storm, the 100th team state title in school history and their first baseball crown since 2016, second overall.

But above all else, those seniors walked across home plate one last time after the game dressed in graduation regalia.

And the trip across to grab their diploma came with a blue trophy in hand.

“Obviously winning is important and great, but because of the kids we have and the relationships with their families, there’s nothing more important than that,” Aaron Boehm said. “The fact that we won a state championship and now I get to watch eight young men graduate on this baseball field, it’s like winning the World Series and the Super Bowl on the same night.”

Nolan Boehm helped deliver the opening remarks by starting the game with a single, moving to second on an error on a pickoff attempt, and then to third on a groundout.

Fellow senior Slater De Brun followed it with a sacrifice fly to put the Storm on the board in the first frame and help set the tone for the rest of the night.

“First-inning runs are always great because you wanna win the inning,” De Brun said. “That’s all you’re trying to do. Makes the job easy when I got a guy on third with less than two outs, I felt no pressure and I just wanted to help the team.”

Canby got runners to second and first with one out but couldn’t score them off of Summit starter Riley Via in the home half of the first, giving the Storm that first-inning victory.

Summit had a chance to add more in the second with runners on third and second with one out, but couldn’t score them on a pop out and strikeout.

Canby went quiet in the second, but starting pitcher Brady Ackerman ended the top half of the third with a big strikeout with a Summit runner on third.

Ackerman came back to hit in the bottom half with a double to the right-center gap on a hit and run that scored the runner from first, tying the game at one.

Summit didn’t wait long to respond though as Preston Sexson walked to start the fourth, moved to second on a passed ball, then to third on a groundout. Riley Via grounded out to shortstop and allowed Sexson to score.

Then Summit slowly loaded the bases with a single and two walks. Ackerman came out for Canby and Brody Froyd was in. Again, it was De Brun with a sacrifice, this time with his body as he wore a pitch to bring home another run.

“For the first five innings of the game, it was, ‘Get me on, get me over and get me in,’” De Brun said. “Meaning, no RBI hits, but just ground balls, sac flies and stuff that gets it done. We practice that every day in batting practice so it’s cool to see it come to fruition.”

Canby had nothing going in the home half as Carter Hess stepped onto the mound in relief of Riley Via. Summit went down quick in the top of the fifth, but Hess gave up a lone single in the bottom half to keep the Storm in front 3-1.

In the sixth, Summit had its first two batters go down, but reached on an error, De Brun got hit by another pitch and Jackson Parker singled to left to plate one more run.

Hess came back with a 1-2-3 inning and the Storm had all the momentum going into the seventh.

“They’ve done it for about 12 weeks now, just consistency and it takes a lot of pressure off the offense,” De Brun said of the pitching staff. “I’m so grateful for the guys that stepped on the mound for us.”

Another elongated inning ensued as the Storm continued to battle and have quality at-bats, loading the bases with two singles and a walk.

The fifth run came on a ground out from Nolan Boehm at first with the throw home not in time for the double play.

In the home half, Hess got the first two outs, but gave up two singles. Summit brought in Alex Via from right to close out the game, and he got Canby to ground out and send the Storm into a frenzy.

“To go out like this, I can’t even describe how incredibly special this is for all of us to go out winning the state championship and having this moment as best friends winning it all,” Hess said. “It’s awesome, it’s crazy. It’s really just a feeling I can’t describe.”

Riley Via finished the game pitching three innings with one run allowed on two hits with no strikeouts and two walks. Hess pitched 3.2 innings with no runs allowed on three hits with three Ks and a walk.

Offensively, De Brun was 0-for-2 but had two RBI thanks to the sac fly and HBP. Parker was 3-for-4 with a RBI. Summit had eight hits total compared to Canby’s five.

“Our plan was to continue to chip away, one-by-one, and we did that,” Aaron Boehm said. “We thought we’d be able to breakaway with the big one, but that never came. … We knew what we had to do, and when you get a little bit of momentum, you put more pressure on the other team and that was all a part of the gameplan.”

Scratching and clawing out runs is something Aaron Boehm said has been the identity of this Storm squad all season thanks to their focus on it in practice.

Those reps came to fruition under the bright lights as the Storm didn’t have many hard hits, but did all the other little things that lead to runs.

“I feel like our offense today, we really came together,” Hess said. “We knew we needed to get it done because this is such a special thing for us and our community in Bend.”

Draped in the green robes after the game, the eight seniors in De Brun, Barret Abena, Tanner McIntyre, Nolan Boehm, Hess, Jarrette Parker, Alex Via and Sexson were all smiles as they knew they were going out as champions.

Aaron and Nolan Boehm posed for pictures at home plate with the first-place trophy, father and son both with that state-champion grin.

It’s a night that’ll go in the record books for Summit baseball and athletics, but above all it’ll be a moment the community around the Storm won’t forget.

“We made history, 100th state championship, every single senior made a contribution,” De Brun said. “Every single guy did something on this team and had a hand in the state championship. And I’m proud that we can graduate on a baseball field.”