Vikings pull away late
<p>Coeur d'Alene High's Bubba Duran slides under the tag of Lake City's second baseman Christian Mayfield during the third inning Tuesday. The Vikings closed out the game in the fifth inning with a score of 13-2.</p>
<p>Lake City High's Taylor Combo gets under a shot to left field to get the out during the fourth inning.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - After a brief delay in getting their 5A Inland Empire League baseball opener under way, both the Coeur d'Alene Vikings and Lake City Timberwolves knew that patience was going to be a key in getting the win on Tuesday.
After a slow start, the Vikings took advantage of 13 walks by Lake City pitching on the way to a 13-2 win in five innings at Lake City High.
Coeur d'Alene had one hit through two innings as Danny Lockhert led off the second inning with a single. Cd'A broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning and closed the day with nine hits in the final three innings.
"I wasn't surprised with the slow start today," said Coeur d'Alene coach Nick Rook, whose team last played on March 19 in Lewiston. “The kids did a great job with their approach at the plate and it worked out.”
Lake City jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Pete Hoffman hit a two-run home run following a walk to leadoff batter Garrett Cabeza.
“Jake started real slow, but outside of one pitch, he threw really well,” Rook said.
Pereira also drove in three runs for Coeur d’Alene (7-1), which hosts Lakeland today at Ted Page Field.
“It usually takes a couple innings for me to get into a good rhythm,” said Pereira, who allowed only one other hit — a two-out single to Grant Curtis in the first inning. “It’s huge for our pitchers when we’re able to get out to an early lead, because it’s a lot easier to pitch with a lead than from behind.”
Matt Lambert had two hits and three runs scored and Drew Turbin, Lockhert and Kaleb DeHaas had two RBIs apiece for Coeur d’Alene.
“We’ve got a group of kids that are focused on their goals,” Rook said. “They’re doing a good job of having a sense of urgency.”
Hoffman struck out six before leaving in the fourth inning for Lake City (1-3), which hosts Post Falls on Thursday.
“They’re a good ballclub,” Lake City coach Al Bevacqua said of Coeur d’Alene. “We can’t be happy with two runs against them. We need to keep combining what is working now and keep getting better in practice. Right now, we need to get a rhythm and get back into a flow.”
Lake City, which had its first two games of the season postponed due to rain, worked four hours to get the field playable after standing water threatened Tuesday’s game.
“We need a good stretch of games and being able to get on the field to practice,” Bevacqua said. “If we can get that, I’ve got all the faith in the world we can turn it around.”
Coeur d’Alene 004 54 — 13 10 1
Lake City 200 00 — 2 2 2
Game called after 5 innings due to 10-run rule.
Jake Pereira, Mikey Schmidt (5) and Kaleb DeHaas; Pete Hoffman, John Howard (4), Grant Curtis (4) and Emmitt Stangel. W — Pereira (3-0). L — Hoffman (0-2).
HITS: Cd’A — Lockhert 2, Comack, DeHaas, J. Pereira, Lambert 2, Nyquist, Turbin, Roletto. LC — Hoffman, Curtis. 3B — Lambert. HR — Hoffman (1).