Published June 03, 2012
Mitch Gueller of W.F. West leads The Olympian's All-Area Baseball Team
GRANT CLARKW.F. West High School baseball coach Tom Zuber strolled out to the mound, already knowing the answer to the question he was about to ask. “I got nothing left,” fatigued senior pitcher Mitch Gueller said as he handed over the baseball. Zuber knew why, too: The two had a conversation 30 minutes prior to the start of the Bearcats’ Class 2A state first-round game against Bellingham – one Gueller tried to fib his way through. “Mitch was alone at the end of the bench,” Zuber said. “He was hunched over, head down. He looks up to me and told me he felt great.” Feeling ill the entire week, Gueller said later he “kept getting worse as the week went on.” He pitched five innings in that game, however, allowing more than one run for the second time this season. “He got right into the fetal position on the bench,” Zuber said. “I felt so bad for him.” Gueller was down, but not done. With W.F. West trailing 4-2 in the final inning, the Bearcats loaded the bases – and had one final opportunity to extend their season. They needed someone to get a clutch hit. Weak but willing, Gueller volunteered to pinch hit. “I was actually feeling a little bit better simply because I just threw up,” said the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Gueller. “So I grabbed a bat.” The Olympian’s 2012 All-Area baseball player of the year re-entered the game and hit a grand slam to win it, 6-4. “The players were going crazy. Poor Mitch is just trying to get around the bases,” Zuber said. “When he reached home, the team is going nuts, but Mitch just goes right back to the bench and (lies) down.” It was a fitting way to end a stellar high school sports career. Gueller, also a quarterback on the football team, guided W.F. West to its first appearance in the state semifinals last fall. “It was a nice way to end high school,” said Gueller, who as a sophomore was the starter in the Bearcats’ 8-1 victory over R.A. Long in the 2010 state baseball title game. “I wish I felt better so I could have enjoyed it more.” The Bearcats went on to lose, 1-0, in the 2A quarterfinals to eventual state runner-up Lynden. But the mark Gueller has left on W.F. West will be permanent. “He’s the ultimate competitor,” Zuber said. “He’s the guy you want to go to war with.” As a pitcher, he posted a 6-0 record this season with a 0.80 earned-run average – giving up five runs on 12 hits in 43 2/3 innings. He also posted two saves while striking out 70 and walking 22. At the plate, he was equally impressive – a .323 batting average with five home runs and 19 RBI while drawing 29 walks. “When he steps out onto the field, he throws harder than anyone else,” Zuber said. “He runs faster than anyone else and he hits better than anyone else. You combine that with how intelligent he is – intellectually he’s brilliant, he has a 3.96 GPA – with how hard he works and you’re talking about something really special.” Where Gueller plays next remains in doubt – at least until Monday. He has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Washington State but could forego that offer and sign a professional contract. He is projected to be a high choice in the MLB draft, which starts Monday. Some experts have Gueller, a right-hander, slotted among the first-round picks as a pitcher. “It’s definitely exciting,” Gueller said about the potential of being selected in the first round. “All of that is out of my control. I am just going to wait and see what happens and base my decision on that.”