PREP BASEBALL: Timberlake, St. Maries reach semis

ONTARIO, Ore. - Overmatched at first.

Outmatched at the end.

Timberlake senior Jackson Shaffer attempted a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third base, but a throwing error allowed the winning run to score as the Timberlake Tigers beat the Snake River Panthers 3-2 in the opening round of the state 3A baseball tournament Thursday at Treasure Valley Community College.

Drew Hansen drew a walk leading off the bottom of the seventh, followed by a walk to Jerritt Plunkett with nobody out.

"We didn't have an out, so we were going to have Jackson push a bunt and try to score them that way," Timberlake coach Bill Rider said. "On the first pitch, he looked overmatched. The second pitch, he threw it right at him and it went in the dirt. Jackson got the bunt down and then they threw it over the third baseman's head to bring in the winning run."

Timberlake (15-9) advance to face Fruitland (17-8) in a semifinal game at 6 p.m. PDT tonight.

"They're Fruitland and going to put the pressure on you every inning," Rider said. "They're going to have a guy on the mound that's going to bulldog you. We're going to have to play a perfect game. We'll go out and give it our best shot and see what happens."

Derek Galloway struck out three over six innings for Timberlake.

Snake River 100 000 1 - 2 9 3

Timberlake 200 000 1 - 3 2 1

None out when winning run scored.

Miller, Keller (1), Voger (7) and Carter; Derek Galloway, Jerritt Plunkett (7) and Seth Villanpando. W - Plunkett. L - Voger.

HITS: SR - Voger, Nekon, Hrabik 2, Dance, Keller, Carter 2, Wray. TL - Plunkett, Villanpando. 2B - Voger.

St. Maries 9

Melba 3

NAMPA - "It's always nice to get that first one out of the way," St. Maries coach Craig Tefft said after the Lumberjacks won their opener at the state 2A baseball tournament at Rodeo Park.

Senior catcher Isaac Walters hit a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth inning, helping lead the Lumberjacks (13-5) past the Melba Mustangs 9-3 to advance to the semifinals today at 3 p.m. PDT against Nampa Christian (18-6).

"We didn't play our best game, but Bryant (Asbury) threw a good game and we were able to do a lot of damage on the bases," Tefft said.

Dakota Wilson, who entered as a courtesy runner for Walters, scored three runs for St. Maries, which scored three unearned runs in the third inning to take the lead.

Asbury had three strikeouts.

Melba 010 110 0 - 3 5 2

St. Maries 103 311 x - 9 5 3

Edmiston and Sveding; Bryant Asbury and Isaac Walters. W - Asbury (3-1). L - Edmiston.

HITS: Mel - Sveding, Talbot 2, Goatz, Westphal. SM - Walters 2, Truscott, Nelson, Richmond. 2B - Walters.