BURIEN, Washington – The Bainbridge Spartans defeated the Garfield Bulldogs 7-0 to secure the Metro League’s fourth and final automatic bid to the 3A Washington State Tournament Tuesday, May 9 at Steve Cox Memorial Park.

The win sends the Bainbridge High varsity baseball team to the state tournament for the fourth time in five years.

Their first round game is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, May 20, to be played at Curtis High School in University Place. Their opponent will be the champion of the District 3/4 tournament, which will be determined on Saturday, May 13.

Against Garfield, James McMurray threw six shutout innings for Bainbridge before Jonathan Kussie came in to close out the game with a perfect seventh.

Garrett Aichele got the scoring started with a three-run blast over the center field fence in the bottom of the first inning, as the Spartans built a six-run lead by the end of the second inning.

The 2017 postseason had been an even split for the Spartans, as the island squad claimed two wins and two losses.

They won 13-3 against Ingraham in their first outing May 3, then lost 12-9 against Eastside Catholic Saturday, May 6.

They lost against 3-1 against O’Dea Monday, May 8 before finishing strong with the shutout win — and advance to state — against Garfield.