PREP BASEBALL: Lake City ousts Cd'A at regionals
COEUR d’ALENE — Lake City senior Jordan Ross tied the game at 5-all with an RBI triple in the seventh and later scored the go-ahead run, sparking the third-seeded Timberwolves’ six-run rally that stunned the second-seeded Coeur d’Alene Vikings 10-5 in a loser out game in the 5A Region 1 tournament at Coeur d’Alene High’s Ted Page Field.
“Anytime your leadoff hitter (Ross) can come out and set the tone — and Jordan has done that all year for us — it’s a big difference maker,” third-year Lake City coach Travis Georgius said. “He came up big in that first at-bat and really put the pressure on them. They got some quick outs on us and we could have died, but we just kept the pressure on them. And that’s what we’ve got to do to win.”
Lake City (17-10) advances to a state play-in game on Saturday at noon at Church Field in Lewiston against Vallivue of Caldwell.
“We’ve been there six times this season,” Georgius said of Lewiston. “It’s basically our second home.”
Coeur d’Alene, which had to forfeit a victory in the regional title game due to using a pitcher too many innings in a two-day period, finishes 17-9.
“It’s a pretty difficult situation for anyone to be in,” sixth-year Coeur d’Alene coach Nick Rook said. “For them to be down, then take the lead, it says a lot about them and our group, their character and their will. At the end of the game, it’s just a knock here and there.”
“You have the world against you in that situation, and it’s not supposed to be like this,” Rook said of the loss. “I’m not supposed to be involved in that kind of stuff, and unfortunately I got involved. It’s my fault. And it’s pretty devastating.”
Jarred Hall followed Ross’ triple with an RBI single to give Lake City a 6-5 lead. The Timberwolves added runs on a hit batter with the bases loaded and RBI singles by Stephen Vaudreuil and Kyle Manzardo to take a 10-5 lead.
After falling behind 4-1, Coeur d’Alene answered with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, keyed by a RBI singles by Jonny Plum and Devin Kluss and a two-run single by Gibson Green to take a 5-4 lead.
Ross threw two scoreless innings in relief of Dominic Conigliaro to get the win on the mound for Lake City.
“Dom, we needed him to get four, if not five innings today,” Georgius said. “We knew that Jordan had a couple of innings. For Dom, to battle in those situations, that was huge for us and not to be fazed by the extra stuff.”
Coeur d’Alene had advanced to state each of the past five years, all under Rook.
“Congratulations to Travis and them,” Rook said. “In the top of the seventh, they were battling. Good luck and we’re happy for them. I can’t say enough about our guys and battling through adversity all year. This group of seniors is a special group. They’ve spent a lot of time with us at the varsity level and we ask a lot of the guys. To end like this, it’s not right, and it’s not fair to them. It’s not supposed to be that way.”
Lake City 101 200 6 — 10 12 0
Coeur d’Alene 100 400 0 — 5 11 2
Dominic Conigliaro, Jordan Ross (6) and Reilly Cherry; Connor Cardinel, Elliott Sparks (4), Colin Richards (7) and Reggie Nault. W — Ross. L — Sparks.
HITS: LC — Ross 2, Hall, Conigliaro 3, Cherry, Vaudreuil, Manzardo 2, Gabrielson 2. Cd’A — Plum, Kluss 2, Hicks, Green 2, Nault, Richards, Sparks 2, Carter. 2B — Ross, Conigliaro, Gabrielson. 3B — Ross.
Bonners Ferry 10
Kellogg 0
BONNERS FERRY — Steve Anzalone pitched a four-hitter with seven strikeouts as the top-seeded Badgers ousted the third-seeded Wildcats in a loser-out game at the 3A District 1 baseball tournament.
Caleb Gering went 2 for 4 with three RBIs for Bonners Ferry (17-7), which advances to a state play-in game vs. Weiser on Saturday at Grangeville at 3 p.m. Gering hit a two-run triple in the third inning to open the scoring, then scored on a double by Shay Garcia. Garcia finished 3 for 3 with a pair of RBIs.
Kellogg finished 5-14.
Kellogg 000 000 — 0 4 3
Bonners Ferry 003 511 — 10 10 1
Game called in 6th inning due to 10-run rule.
James Redd and Hunter Bisaro; Steve Anzalone and Kevin Gray. W — Anzalone. L — Redd.
HITS: Kell — Stott 2, Easley, Bisaro. BF — Dunham, Anzalone 2, Gering 2, Garcia 3, Bennett, Gray. 2B — Gering, Garcia. 3B — Gering.