Prep baseball: Summit has its guy in Via
Published 10:00 am Monday, April 21, 2025
The Storm celebrate after scoring a run during the game against Ridgeview on Friday at Ridgeview High School. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
Summit’s Alex Via delivers a pitch to a Ridgeview batter during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School.(Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
Summit’s Nolan Boehm (13) throws to first after forcing out Ridgeview’s Diego Lopez (0) for a double play during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
Summit’s Jackson Parker (2) gets a base hit during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
Ridgeview’s Finn Chambers pitches to a Summit batter during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
Ridgeview’s Logan Nakamura throws to home as a Summit baserunner tries to score during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
Summit’s Preston Sexton hits a pitch during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
Ridgeview’s Ryden Nakamura fields a ball in the outfield during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
Summit’s Nolan Boehm (13) high-fives teammates after turning a double play during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
REDMOND – There is one pitcher that Summit baseball coach Aaron Boehm wants on the bump in an important game, and it’s Alex Via.
Since his freshman season, Via has been given the ball in the biggest spots in the most crucial games of the season. And Friday evening on the road for Game 3 of the series against Ridgeview, the defending Intermountain Conference champions, Via was dealing.
“Alex has always been our guy,” said Summit coach Aaron Boehm. “I would take him in any big game at any time. If I had my choice at any point of the season with any pitcher in the state, he’s my number one choice.
“This is my ninth year coaching at Summit and we’ve had a lot of good pitchers,” Boehm continued. “Alex is a fierce, fierce competitor. He is a different guy when he is on the mound. At the end of the day, when he has the ball, you are content with the outcome because you have the best guy with the best stuff who is going to compete at the highest level.”
Via is constantly thinking about those high-pressure situations.
“These are the games that I prepare for all offseason,” Via said. “I want to be in the big moments. I always want to make sure that I visualize success and play through different scenarios in my head, so that way when they happen, I’m not caught off guard or get anxious because I’ve already lived through that moment multiple times in my own head.”
After dropping the first game of the series 16-6 last Tuesday, Summit (10-4 overall, 2-1 IMC) bounced back with a 3-2 win on Wednesday and then dominated Ridgeview (6-5, 1-2) 18-0 on Friday for the series-clinching win on the Ravens’ home field.
“This one felt great for us,” Via said. “These last two games have been awesome. After that first loss there was a mentality switch, we brought a lot more energy and I think propelled our offense and made us play better.”
Via carved up a talented Ridgeview lineup. Over fine innings of work, he struck out eight Ravens batters and allowed only three hits. He did not walk a batter or allow a run in the dominating win.
The University of Portland signee has five pitches – fastball, cutter, slider, sinker and changeup – in his arsenal. Against the Ravens, it was his typically least-effective pitch that was doing the most damage.
“The changeup was getting me a lot of swings and misses and early contact, which is great,” Via said.
But there can be a downside to having an ace on the mound. Boehm said sometimes he and his team can feel almost too relaxed. Before Friday’s all-important rubbermatch, Boehm told his pitcher that today’s game was going to be different.
“Our message was, we are going to put a number up (offensively) that shows we got you,” Boehm said.
And did the offense ever deliver. The Storm scored two runs in the top of the first inning off a two-RBI triple from junior designated hitter Jackson Parker. And Summit wasn’t even close to slowing down at the plate.
In total the Storm tallied 19 hits (six of them going for extra bases) and scored multiple runs in four of the game’s five innings.
“We didn’t hit the ball well in our Tuesday or Wednesday games,” said Parker, who finished with four hits and drove in four runs. “We came in with a different approach at the plate. We realized that we needed to swing the bat and hit the ball hard to make things happen.”
In the third inning, the Storm added eight more runs. They added five more runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to get the dominating win.
Along with Parker, four different Summit players drove in at least two runs and five players collected multiple hits. Senior second baseman Nolan Boehm finished with two hits and three RBIs, senior center fielder Slater de Brun had two hits and two RBIs and senior first baseman Preston Sexson drove in two runs. And just for good measure, Via also finished with four hits and drove in three runs at the plate.
After a slow start to the season a year ago and dropping the first three games of the season this year, the Storm have now been on a tear, winning eight of their last nine games.
“Being part of last year’s team made us realize that it is important to get off to a hot start,” Parker said. “This series gave us the expectation of what we can do against really good teams. Ridgeview is a really good team. Watching what we can do against them shows me and our whole team what we can do against other good teams.”
With an important series win under its belt, Summit will start its three-game series against Mountain View at home on Tuesday and Ridgeview will start its three-game series on Tuesday against Caldera. Games 2 and 3 of both series will be played on Wednesday and Friday.
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