LEGION BASEBALL: Northern Lakes sweeps Sandpoint
RATHDRUM - The return of Tristan Clift to the mound - and a return to strong pitching and fielding - helped the host Mountaineers sweep Sandpoint in a class A North Idaho League Legion baseball doubleheader on Monday.
Clift returned from an injury to pitch 4.1 innings of three-hit, one-run baseball, striking out five. He also helped his cause at the plate, knocking in three runs with singles in the first and sixth innings, to help Northern Lakes (4-1, 1-1 NIL) win the opener, which was a league game.
"Tristan was phenomenal tonight," Mountaineers coach Bryce Johnson said. "It was his first start after battling through an arm injury. He worked really hard to get to where he could go out there, and he was nails for us tonight."
Johnson was pleased with his team's improvement one day after a rough league game at Moscow, which the Mountaineers lost 20-0 amid a mountain of walks and errors.
"After a rough day Sunday, we made (Sandpoint) earn everything today," he added. "I'm very pleased with our pitchers and our effort defensively."
Scott Pote had an RBI triple in game 2 and closed it out on the mound with 2.1 innings of work, earning saves in both ends of the doubleheader. Payden Wysong earned the win on the mound, allowing three hits and one run over 4.2 innings.
The Mountaineers face Sandpoint again on Wednesday, traveling to War Memorial Field for a 4 p.m. doubleheader.
FIRST GAME
Sandpoint 000 100 0 - 1 5 0
N. Lakes 211 003 x - 7 10 1
Ringer, Cook (6) and Brakett; Clift, Pote (5) and Knight. W: Clift. L: Ringer.
HITS: Spt, Brakett 2, McDonald, Barlow, Belgrade; NL, Clift 2, Wysong 2, Powell, Pote, Pemberton, Horn, Knight, Schaffner. 2B - Pemberton, Powell, Horn.
SECOND GAME
Sandpoint 000 011 1 - 3 6 1
N. Lakes 002 110 x - 4 5 2
Riley, Roop (3), McDonald (5), Cook (6) and Brakett; Wysong, Pote (5) and Pemberton. W: Wysong. L: Riley.
HITS: Spt, Mellander 2, Riley, McDonald, Belgrade, Brokesh; NL, Pote, Pemberton, Clift, Vandever, Dugger. 3B - Pote.
AA Legion Baseball
Spokane Expos 9, CDA Lumbermen 0
COEUR d'ALENE - The host Lumbermen ran into a tough team of all college-age players, with sharp pitching and slick fielding limiting the CDA offense to four hits.
"That's a really good team," Lums coach Darren Taylor said of the Expos. "They had good pitching and great defense. We hit the ball pretty hard, but they made some fabulous plays to take away some hits."
CDA starting pitcher Ryan Schneider allowed three hits and two earned runs over 3.2 innings, striking out five Expos.
Joe DuCoeur had a hit and a stolen base for the Lums (8-4), who travel to Lewiston today for a league doubleheader with Lewis-Clark.
Spokane 102 012 3 - 9 10 1
CDA 000 000 0 - 0 4 0
Spokane individual stats unavailable.
CDA pitching: Schneider, Scherr (4), Davey (7) and DuCoeur. L: Schneider.
HITS: CDA, Scherr, Larson, DuCoeur, Rimpau.