Dave Gasser gives wife Vicki a hug, following a milestone win early in his coaching career at Astoria.

If the 2017 season were a movie, the Astoria baseball team would have advanced to the final, knocked off Henley for their first title since 2011, and those Band of Brothers — the Fishermen seniors — would finally have their state championship.

And retiring head coach Dave Gasser (played by Gene Hackman) would be riding off into the sunset with his 751st career victory and his sixth state title.

“Ideally, in a perfect world, we would have walked out with a state championship just the way it started (in 2006),” Gasser said. “But those are movie scripts.”

Still, the season “was awesome,” he said. In the playoffs, “We had to beat the Player of the Year (Andy Avants) in Estacada’s league; then we had to beat the Player of the Year (Hidden Valley’s Cade Kissel) in the Skyline; then we had to turn around and play the Player of the Year in the Greater Oregon League (La Grande’s G.T. Blackman).”

And all three on the road.

“There was nothing easy about the route we took. I don’t know how our kids could have done any more.”

The Fishermen went 20-6 and finished within one game of the state championship for the second year in a row.

And they did it with key seniors who had suffered major injuries in other sports.

Fridtjof Fremstad had a late start to the season after an ankle injury in basketball; while Tyler Lyngstad (knee) and Kyle Strange (broken leg) were still recovering from football injuries.

“Fritz never got completely where he could have been with the ankle,” Gasser said. “He still had a great season (batted .384, and was 6-for-6 in save opportunities on the mound). And the season Kyle had (batted .507 with a team-high 29 RBIs), with a rod in his leg, was truly remarkable. And if you look at the La Grande game, or the three one-run losses we had in league, a healthy Tyler Lyngstad is worth at least one league win.”

And all Astoria needed was one more league win, “and we would have been rated ahead of La Grande, and we would have been home the whole time,” Gasser said.

Home field in the playoffs makes a huge difference.

“In my life, we never lost a home playoff game,” Gasser said. “We haven’t been home that much, but when we were the designated home team in the semis, we always won.

“And the four times we had to travel, we’re 1-3. That’s how much difference it makes.

“Home-field advantage in the semis, when you’re not traveling at all … it’s just too big of an advantage for the OSAA to continue to allow.”

The Fishermen still made the best of it, winning playoff games at Estacada and Hidden Valley, before falling at eventual state champion La Grande.

“I’ve never seen kids have to travel like our Astoria kids,” Gasser said. “One thing I can say about ’em — whatever they had to give, they gave it.”

It resulted in a Cowapa League co-championship with Banks, and Astoria’s second 20-win season since Gasser returned in 2013.

After retiring following the 2010 season, he came back, just to go out with the Class of 2017 senior class.

“They were the 7- and 8-year-olds who came to my first camp,” Gasser recalled. “After a couple years away, I just hoped I had enough in me to give them a run at it.

“As far as I’m concerned, the kids battling to the end and enduring the road like they did, competing their brains out and overcoming some adversity … I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Likewise, Gasser’s coaching system and kids-first attitude was invaluable to Astoria. Since he arrived on the scene in 2006, the Fishermen have played in five state championship games, winning three (one under Brian Babbitt).

Gasser leaves the game for good with a career high school coaching record of 750 wins, 235 losses. The closest coach still active is Tigard’s Tom Campbell, with 693 wins.

“The fact that the Oregon Coaches Association just recognized coach Gasser with the ‘Coaching with Character’ Award speaks volumes about what he has meant to our baseball program, our baseball community, and our entire high school athletic department,” said Astoria Athletic Director Howard Rub.

“The success on the field speaks for itself, but it is the modeling of behavior and the high expectation of behavior that he holds himself, his coaches and his players, that truly separates coach Gasser from the rest,” he said.

Before he took the Astoria job, Gasser said, “I walked around town with a little notebook. I knocked on doors and sat down with former Mayor (Willis) Van Dusen, Blair Henningsgaard, Mark Popkin, Hal Snow, Jon Englund and met all sorts of wonderful people.

“I said, ‘these are the things I want to accomplish.’ The first was getting a good summer sponsor, and improve what we do in the summer. The clinics and the summer baseball situation. And thanks to Dane Gouge and Astoria Ford, we did that.

“We were in the (Junior Baseball) state tournament every year and won a few state titles, and brought legion clubs in from Singapore and Australia.”

Secondly, “the batting cage is nicer than anything I could have imagined,” he said. “The people who made that happen, the whole community should be indebted to those people.

“The third thing was to improve the playing surface, and make Aiken Field’s infield more playable.

“A fourth was to take care of the dugouts. They weren’t big enough and they were tilted the wrong way. And we didn’t have bullpens.

“And the fifth, pie-in-the-sky one, was we needed to come up with a different backstop and terrace the seating area, so it’s actually a stadium.”

Every single item was accomplished.

“Ultimately, I wanted Astoria baseball to be taking on the best teams in the state and holding their own.” Check.

“It was only because of the phenomenal coaching staff,” that Gasser finally accepted the Astoria coaching job. “I mean that. Ryker (Thornton), Brian (Babbitt), Glen (Fromwiller), Ralph (Steinback) … they’ve been with me every year and Glen all but one.

“It was those guys and a community that was generous, supportive and an administration at the school that encouraged it in every way.”

Fromwiller will assume the head coaching duties next season.

“He’s been a JV coach for 11 years, he knows the kids, he’s worked in the youth program, and he was a head coach prior to coming here,” Gasser said. “He’s well-qualified. He’s a great guy, good teacher, just what you want. He’s not a senior citizen who forgets where his keys are.”

Of this year’s senior group, Gasser said, “there are a lot of guys who I would consider to be really good role models who graduated in the Class of 2017. This is the highest GPA of any team I’ve ever had. We had two valedictorians, both starters and all-leaguers.

“As sophomores, juniors and seniors, we won about 60 games and played in three straight quarterfinals, and two semifinals. I don’t care if it’s 4A, 5A or 6A … how many do that?”

After spending years coaching in the Portland area, Gasser’s teams at Astoria were unique. It’s safe to say his teams at Madison and Lakeridge did not have many Olafs or Fridtjofs on the roster.

Astoria “definitely had a Scandinavian flair that I hadn’t had previously,” he said. And with a number of players who also belonged to the Future Farmers of America, “it was great to get to know the importance of weighing a pig. It really is a legitimate reason to miss a summer baseball game for the kids, who are putting in a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

“They’re well-rounded kids, they’re fishing, they’re hunting … they’re going to the fair and doing a lot of things, and at the same time they’re playing some pretty good baseball.”

Many of Gasser’s players have gone on to college ball, with a couple of Astoria players advancing to the pros (never mind that for one it’s the NFL, and not MLB).

“When I was thinking about taking the Astoria job, I was driving out of the Astoria parking lot heading towards Dairy Queen, and there was this kid in the old outdoor batting cage, taking BP (batting practice) with a buddy.

“I watched three swings, and I literally did a U-turn and pulled into the parking lot, walked down and said, ‘Who are you?’ And this little 14-year-old kid said, ‘Hi, I’m Jordan Poyer.’”

Poyer and Conor Harber were both MLB draft picks, with Harber now playing in the Milwaukee Brewers’ farm system, while Poyer took the football route.

They’re not always all-leaguers.

“Some of my absolute best memories in Astoria is that you can still see kids who were proud members of state championship or semifinal teams, who didn’t play all the time, but were great bench kids.

“Those qualities of selflessness and supporting others and busting it even when you don’t play, are better predictors of long-term success than having an insane amount of athletic ability,” Gasser said. “They’re just proud to be part of a good team. I had those kind of kids every year I’ve coached year.”

Gasser “has had such a tremendously positive effect on everyone involved in our high school athletic department,” Rub said. “We have been very fortunate to have him serve as our head baseball coach for 10 of the past 12 seasons, as the defensive coordinator for the football program for three seasons, and in general, as a consultant to our Athletic Department for the past 15 years.”

Finally, you can expect to see Gasser at future ballgames, as he and wife Vicki have made Astoria their home. He leaves the Fishermen baseball program in great shape for the future.

“The young kids coming up are in a good place, and I don’t know how our facilities can be any better,” he said. “The program is in good hands with Fromwiller … it will just keep rollin’.”