PREP BASEBALL: Big seventh in first fuels Sandpoint sweep of Lakeland

RATHDRUM — Without warning, a pitchers’ duel for 5 ½ innings suddenly morphed into a wild finish.

The Lakeland Hawks scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to seemingly take control of the opener.

But the visiting Sandpoint Bulldogs responded with eight runs in the top of the seventh en route to an 8-4 victory.

Then Sandpoint scored the first seven runs of the second game, then held on for a 7-4 win and a sweep of the Inland Empire League doubleheader at Gorton Field.

“Boy this one was disheartening,” Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury said. “Tadgh (Ellwood) pitched lights out the whole game. It was definitely his best outing of the year, but I had to pull him due to pitch count rules. Then, we just couldn’t finish for him. We were right there, but couldn’t close the door. It’s one of those things that when you get up on a team, you can’t give them an inch, or they’ll take it from you. Credit Sandpoint for executing when we couldn’t.”

The sweep put Sandpoint (8-11, 5-9 IEL) on the verge of clinching the No. 1 seed to the 4A Region 1 tournament. Sandpoint plays host to Moscow (5-14, 2-10) on Tuesday in a doubleheader, needing just one win to wrap up the top seed.

Moscow plays host to Lakeland (3-17, 2-12) on Thursday for a pair to conclude the regular season. If Moscow sweeps both teams next week, the Bears would be the top seed.

Sandpoint lefty Jack Zimmerman threw five shutout innings, and left after a leadoff walk in the sixth.

A single by Raiston Ellwood put runners at first and third. Ellwood moved up on a wild pitch, and Jace Taylor broke the scoreless tie with a two-run single to center field. The Hawks then tacked on a couple more runs for a 4-0 lead.

Sandpoint opened the seventh with back-to-back singles from Zimmerman and Cody Newhart, and Tadgh Ellwood came out after throwing 109 pitches.

The next three Bulldogs walked, forcing home a pair of runs. One out later, Drew Lehman scored on a wild pitch. Two more walks followed, tying the game.

With the bases loaded, sophomore Jesse Turner lined a two-run double to right-center field. Another run scored on a wild pitch, and Zimmerman capped the scoring with an RBI single.

In the second game, Lehman drove in a pair of runs and Sandpoint led 7-0 after four innings.

Blaze Day doubled and knocked in two for Lakeland.

“The first game was really hard for the boys to come back from,” Bradbury said. “We seemed to be flat the whole game. I like how they gave us some chances toward the end of the game by getting some baserunners on base. I have to do a better job of instilling confidence in my team and getting them to believe that they can win. I think we are a good ballclub and have the ability to beat the teams in our league. We talked about mental toughness and attitude after the game.”

FIRST GAME

Sandpoint 000 000 8 — 8 10 3

Lakeland 000 004 0 — 4 8 3

Jack Zimmerman, Jesse Turner (6) and Gavin Day; Tadgh Ellwood, Caleb Mason (7), Roan Reilly (7), Jace Taylor (7) and Jace Cooksey.

HITS: Spt — Zimmerman 2, C. Newhart 2, Lehman 3, MacDonald, Day, Turner. LL — R. Ellwood, Taylor 2, Day, Wylie, Reilly 2, T. Ellwood. 2B — MacDonald, Turner.

SECOND GAME

Sandpoint 140 200 0 — 7 7 1

Lakeland 000 011 2 — 4 5 4

Jorden Tyler, Jayden Kuprienko (4), Alex Leverich (6), Austin Dillon (7) and Gavin Day; Raiston Ellwood, Cash Lund (3), Jace Taylor (4) and unknown.

HITS: Spt — Zimmerman, C. Newhart 2, Lehman, Barlow, Day, Tyler. LL — Day, Reilly 2, T. Ellwood 2. 2B — Tyler, C. Newhart, Day, Reilly.

Coeur d’Alene 2-5

Lewiston 0-1

COEUR d’ALENE — Bryce Stockton struck out nine and Logan Markowski four in the opener, then four pitchers combined to hold the visiting Bengals to two hits in the nightcap of a Inland Empire League sweep of the Bengals at Ted Page Field.

“Being able to rest and not have to throw in a few days did wonders for our guys,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Erik Karns, whose team was playing for the first time since last Saturday. “Bryce just went out and did what he does and Logan came in behind him and has just been a gem for us. Aaron (Gwaltney) and Zeb (Blattstein) had some big innings in the second game and Andrew (Karns) came in and closed it out. Anytime you can hold Lewiston to four hits on the day, it’s a good day.”

Andrew Karns had three hits, including a double in the fifth inning for Coeur d’Alene.

“Andrew’s seeing the ball really well right now,” Erik Karns said. “All of our seniors that have been here for four years have been.”

Second-place Coeur d’Alene (13-9, 13-3 IEL) hosts first-place Lake City (16-5, 15-1) in a doubleheader on Tuesday at 2 p.m. Lake City can wrap up the league title with one win.

Fourth-place Lewiston (11-11, 7-9) travels to third-place Post Falls ( 10-11, 8-8) for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

FIRST GAME

Lewiston 000 000 0 — 0 2 0

Coeur d’Alene 110 000 x — 2 6 0

Toby Elliott and Tyler Grandlund; Bryce Stockton, Logan Markowski (5) and Chase Saunders.

HITS: Lew — Ricard, Taylor. Cd’A — Karns 2, Erickson, Stockton, Trunkey-Evans 2. 2B — Trunkey-Evans.

SECOND GAME

Lewiston 000 001 0 — 1 2 1

Coeur d’Alene 001 031 x — 5 12 1

Kaden Daniel, Brice Bensching (4), Lance Bambacigno (5) and Tyler Grandlund; Aaron Gwaltney, Aidan Blanco (3), Zeb Blattstein (6), Andrew Karns (7) and Richie Hackett.

HITS: Lew — Kolb, Krasselt. Cd’A — Hall, Karns 3, Brown 2, Erickson 2, Stockton, Trunkey-Evans, Smart, Christ. 2B — Krasselt, Stockton, Karns.

St. Maries 13-12

Liberty 3-2

ST. MARIES — One of the Lumberjacks biggest weaknesses suddenly turned into a strength in a nonleague sweep of the Lancers of Spangle, Wash., at City Park.

Sophomore Kody Tefft had a two-run single in the fifth inning of the first game and junior Milo Marsh had four RBIs in the nightcap for the Lumberjacks, who have won three straight.

“We started out a little slow offensively and have been struggling to string some hits together all season,” St. Maries coach Craig Wicks said. “All of a sudden, our bats came alive in the second inning and we started to put some things together.”

Junior Wyatt Holmes hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning in the second game for St. Maries, which played six times last week.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to take some of the momentum heading into next week,” Wicks said. “We’ve still got some room to improve, but we’re playing some good baseball right now.”

St. Maries (7-11) hosts Grangeville in a single game on Monday at City Park.

Liberty is 2-14.

FIRST GAME

Liberty 000 30 — 3 7 4

St. Maries 030 0(10) — 13 7 4

Game called with two outs in bottom of 5th inning due to 10-run rule.

Sylus Feltwell, Zayne Braun (5) and Clae Holling; Dillon Holder and Riley Abell.

HITS: Lib — Jeske 2, Nollmeyer, Strobel 3, Domrese. SM — Wicks 2, Abell, Marsh 2, L. Holmes, Tefft. 2B — Abell.

SECOND GAME

Liberty 000 110 — 2 2 4

St. Maries 423 111 — 12 16 1

Game called with two outs in bottom of 6th inning due to 10-run rule.

Clae Holling, Caleb Nollmeyer (6) and Thomas Domrese, PJ Nemnich (4); Landen Holmes and Dillon Holder.

HITS: Lib — Jeske, Braun. SM — Wicks 2, W. Holmes 2, Anderson 2, Holder, Marsh 3, Abell 2, Gibson 2, L. Holmes, Tefft. 2B — Braun, Holder. 3B — Wicks, Anderson. HR — W. Holmes.