It had been a long time since Decatur High School last lost a game on the baseball diamond. It’s been 347 days, since May 10, in a 10-0 loss against Battle Ground.

That streak came to an end and the 11-0 Decatur Gators are now the 11-1 Gators. Enumclaw and Cooper Markham silenced the Gator bats and downed Decatur, 2-1, on April 21.

Skipper Chris Fox sees the loss as a learning experience and the burden lifted off the shoulders of his team, now that the undefeated season stress is out of the window.

“Personally, I didn’t want to go into the postseason undefeated. We are hungry now. It was good for us. I told the boys at the end of the day, this is good for us,” Fox said.

In his first season in the NPSL, Enumclaw’s Cooper Markham has been on a roll. The right-hander went six innings against the Gators, holding them to just two hits, and struck out 11 with the one run being earned.

In games where Markham has thrown over four innings, he has struck out 11 or more in five outings.

Fox was pleased with his team’s approach to a future Division 1 arm, despite getting just two hits. The Gators did walk four times, and CJ Gatterson was hit by a pitch.

“I thought we did OK. We put the ball in play, that was the goal coming in. Get his pitch count up and get another pitcher in there and that is what we did,” Fox said.

Decatur starter Hunter Buol was tasked with taking on the University of Oregon commit and held Enumclaw to just two runs, only one of which was earned. Buol went seven innings and both runs came around to score as a result of a pair of bunts.

“I think he matched him pitch for pitch. With a couple of mental things here and there and the bunt coverage, I thought he was phenomenal. I was super proud of him, absolutely,” said Fox.

Buol’s goal was to prove that he can compete against a pitcher like Markham and give his team its best chance to win.

“It does motivate me more to pitch against him. I want to beat him and prove that I am better than the opposing pitcher,” Buol said.

Enumclaw struck first in the top of the fourth inning. Back-to-back singles put runners on first and second and a bunt from Juden Jones went back to pitcher Hunter Buol, who made a throwing error to first, allowing the first run to score.

The second run came in the fifth inning after Drew Francis walked. Francis stole second and third base, and with one out, Graham Wagner dropped a bunt that went to Buol’s right and resulted in a base hit.

Two runs seemed like a tall order as Decatur needed to gain some momentum against Markham. In the Decatur half of the fifth, Gatterson did just that with a single on the first pitch of the at-bat, and Jacob Pech walked to threaten the Hornet lead. Markham retired the next two Gators, bringing up Eric Havili, and on the second pitch of that at-bat, Markham threw a fastball to the backstop. Gatterson scored on the wild pitch, just beating the tag from catcher Cole Chiechi.

In the seventh, Decatur finally breathed a sigh of relief as Markham had to leave the game in the seventh as he reached the pitch count limit. In stepped Oliver Potts from the bullpen with the tying run on second and winning run on third with one out in the seventh. Potts struck out Havili and got Spencer Holloway to ground out to short to end the game.

Last season in game one of the district tournament, the Gators took on a Puyallup side that had top prospect Mason Pike. They were challenged like they hadn’t been challenged all season. This year, they saw the game against Markham as a challenge and one that they wanted to take head on.

“I think it is only going to make us better for the playoffs to see an arm like this. We were ready for him. We wanted to see him, and we did, and that was great. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys for the way they approached it,” said Fox.

Decatur gets a second chance against Enumclaw the following day, and for the players, an opportunity to right some mistakes.

“We just have to prove we are better than them. We have to come out tomorrow and belt them I guess,” Buol said.

Hunter Buol in his wind up against Enumclaw. Ben Ray / The Mirror