Submitted photo – The Eagles celebrate their league title on Saturday.

It was, to say the least, an eventful day for the Humboldt Eagles 19U team.

They swept a doubleheader at Chico, claimed a league title, and earned the top seed for next week’s NorCal tournament.

They also had several individual standout performances, and were involved in a benches clearing brawl that appeared to spur the team on.

“I thought it kind of rallied our team,” Eagles head coach Matt Tomlin said. “It kind of fired us up.”

The brawl occurred in the bottom of the sixth inning of game one, right after Cody Emmons had tied the score on a big RBI hit.

Emmons was caught in a rundown and knocked hard to the ground after getting tagged out on the head.

After that, the benches quickly cleared with punches being thrown.

“I saw with my team how they came together after that,” the Eagles coach said.

It certainly ignited their play and they never looked back, winning that game 8-5 in nine innings and rolling to a dominating 14-0 in game two.

After the brawl, the Eagles outscored the home team 17-0 for the remainder of the day.

After falling short in their goal of reaching the state tournament a year ago, this year’s team, which features many of the same players, appears determined to not miss out this summer.

Saturday’s emotional doubleheader sweep was evidence of that.

“They’re on a mission this year to get to Yountville,” Tomlin said, referring to the site of the annual American Legion state tournaments.

Munson steps up

The big brawl wasn’t the only headline from Saturday’s action.

Pitcher Brady Munson was outstanding out of the bullpen in the opener, while Kalebh Hill hit the first home run of his life with a grand slam in the game two rout.

“It was just a crazy day,” Tomlin said.

Munson took the mound with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, and his first pitch was hit into an inning-ending double play to end the threat.

Munson pitched four and two-third scoreless innings for the win, allowing just one hit and striking out three.

“He saved the game for us,” Tomlin said of the recent Eureka graduate who will play at Shasta College next year.

Emmons, who also plays at Shasta, led the way at the plate, finishing 3-for-4, while Jaden Gorge and Scott Coffelt each went 2-for-4, with Coffelt driving in a pair of runs.

Gannon Cyphers was 1-for-3 with three RBIs.

More outstanding pitching

The outstanding pitching for the Eagles continued into game two, with Merek Sears dominating on the mound.

“Merek Sears was the Merek Sears we saw during the high school season,” Tomlin said of the Arcata standout, who was Humboldt Sports high school pitcher of the year. “He was absolutely untouchable.”

Sears struck out 10 in five innings and held the Chico bats to just two hits.

Hill’s grand slam was the offensive highlight of the game, while teammate Landon Gomes remained red-hot with three more base hits including a pair of doubles.

The Ferndale standout has been on fire at the plate recently, raising his average 150 points in the last two weeks alone.

Garrison Finck added two hits and two RBIs.

With the wins, the Eagles improved to 32-9 on the season and close out league play unbeaten.

They will now compete at the eight-team NorCal tournament in Woodland, which gets under way on Thursday.

The top three teams will advance to the following week’s state tournament.

The Eagles will also play the B52s on Monday and the Humboldt Crabs on Tuesday.