When Brent Morton jumped on the Clipper ferry to Seattle Friday night, it was a trip the Gordon Head resident and his friends Kevin Carrigan and Graham Plumb had been talking about since last year.

The trio were going to visit long-time pal and professional baseball player Mike Saunders and to watch him play for the Tacoma Rainiers, the AAA affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

Then came the surprise of a lifetime. Saunders got “the call.”

“We were all just cracking a beer, saying our hello’s having arrived late on Friday, 11:30 p.m.,” said Morton, a Mt. Doug grad who played soccer with Saunders and basketball against him.

“That’s when (Saunders) said, ‘ahh sorry boys, this’ll be the last beer of the night for me, ‘cause instead of seeing me play (for Tacoma) we’re going to Safeco Field.”

Saunders, a Lambrick Park high school graduate, was drafted by the Mariners in 2004.

Since then he has been hoping, preparing and waiting for the call. When it came, it turned his life upside down, at least for the weekend.

“I’ve had every type of emotion you can describe: anxiousness, nervousness ...” said the 21-year-old Saunders. “The first night I was called up I couldn’t sleep a wink, I was rolling all over the bed.”

“My friends woke me up with the smell of breakfast (Monday). I’ve gotten used to it over the last couple of days, I’m able to sleep finally.”

On Saturday, Morton and the gang made the 40 minute commute to Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners (Were Saunders not to have received the call, the commute would have consisted of crossing the street from Saunders’ apartment to Tacoma’s Cheney Stadium). Saunders had tickets put aside for the trio and for Saunders’ family who were also in town, expecting to watch the Rainiers and instead saw Saunders’ debut against the Cleveland Indians.

“The initial shock for me was walking in the club house and seeing Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Sweeney. Guys like that,” Saunders said. “That’s when it set in that, ‘Finally I’ve made it.’”

As for the Saunders’ friends and family, they watched from 20 rows up behind home plate.

“I would say they were the best seats in the house,” said Morton.

From their vantage point, Saunders’ entourage witnessed Mike’s first two Major League Baseball hits and kept an eye on him as he patrolled left field.

“We kept looking at each other asking, ‘is this actually happening?,” said Morton. “It was really surreal, definitely an unreal experience.”

Saunders went 0-3 on Saturday but came within inches of his first hit, an almost home-run that was caught and pulled back into the field by a leaping Indian’s right fielder Chris Jimenez. “We (recorded) the game and watched it over again (with Saunders) in super slow motion on. It was out of the park,” said Morton.

Saunders eventually came through with two singles on Sunday, one of them an RBI.

“On his first actual MLB hit, our section gave him a standing ovation -- we were making sure to let everybody know he was our boy and where he came from,” said Morton.

sports@vicnnews.com