STATE HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Lake City to play for state title

5A

CALDWELL — Some clutch defensive plays … a couple of bold coaching moves … and the underdog Lake City Timberwolves are going to play for the state championship later today.

Sixth-seeded Lake City took the lead with four runs in the third inning, then held on to beat the second-seeded Middleton Vikings 5-4 in a state 5A semifinal Friday afternoon at the College of Idaho’s Wolfe Field.

“They’re super confident; super excited,” first-year Timberwolf head coach Mike Criswell said.

Lake City (21-6) will play No. 1 seed and defending champion Owyhee (22-4) of Meridian today at 4 p.m. PDT in the title game. Owyhee, a second-year school, beat No. 4 Mountain View 6-3.

The T-Wolves will be playing in their fifth state title game in program history, and first since 2016, when Lake City was last at state. Lake City won state titles in 2007 and ’16, and was runner-up in 2004 and ’08.

Where do we start?

Criswell suggested Nate Weatherhead, who threw 103 pitches in a complete game, yielding 11 hits and getting in and out of jams all game long.

“He had a heckuva game,” Criswell said of Weatherhead, a junior. “He has ice in his veins; and looked comfortable even when they had their best hitters up. He's so calm and collected.”

That was in the bottom of the seventh.

But before that, there was that four-run top of the third for Lake City. Eric Bumbaugh singled in Ty Shepard to tie the game at 1. Joe DuCoeur socked a two-run triple to score Cooper Smith and Bumbaugh. Jake Dannenberg, who finished 3 for 3, singled in DuCoeur.

After Middleton tallied a run in the bottom half, DuCoeur singled in Travis Usdrowski in the fourth to make it 5-2.

The Vikings pulled to within a run in the fifth on a two-run triple by T. Swygart. The next batter lofted a fly ball to right center, where junior right fielder Braeden Newby caught it and threw out the courtesy runner trying to score from third to keep Lake City in the lead.

“Oh my gosh,” Criswell said. “I thought Bumbaugh (the center fielder) was going to take that ball, and Newby takes it and throws the kid out at home. That’s one of those momentum shifters. And Newby is not an outfielder; we put him out there because he’s a gamer … gritty.”

In the sixth, Middleton’s leadoff man reached. One out later, on a bouncer up the middle, DuCoeur ranged over from shortstop, snagged the ball, stepped on second and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.

“It’s just like Joe; he’s just a stud,” Criswell said of DuCoeur, who plays mostly at catcher, but has been playing short at state because Usdrowski, the usual shortstop, has an elbow injury.

In the bottom of the seventh, Weatherhead issued a one-out walk, bringing up Robert Orloski, who at that point was 3 for 3 with a triple and three runs scored. After a wild pitch moved the runner up to second, Criswell ordered Orloski to be intentionally walked.

“I don’t like to do that,” Criswell said. “I like to challenge kids, but that kid was mashing the ball; we had to do it. I thought it was the right thing to do.”

Weatherhead struck out the next batter looking, then got the lefty hitting Swygart to fly out to Shepard in left to end the game.”

Smith, the catcher, and Bumbaugh each had two hits for Lake City, which has already knocked off the No. 2 and 3 seeds to reach the title game. Next up is the top seed.

“I actually like being the sixth seed; they (the players) actually feel disrespected,” Criswell said. “I like being the underdog.”

Lake City 004 100 0 — 5 9 1

Middleton 101 020 0 — 4 11 1

Nate Weatherhead and Cooper Smith; I. Lenius, B. Silvers (6), T. Swygart (6) and C. Recla.

HITS: LC — Smith 2, Bumbaugh 2, DuCoeur 2, Dannenberg 3. Mid — Orloski 3, Recla, Swygart 2, Mendiola 2, Lucido, Silvers, Lenius. 2B — Dannenberg, Silvers. 3B — DuCoeur, Orloski, Swygart.

3A

Timberlake 12

Payette 9

NAMPA — Junior Grant Allaway hit a tiebreaking two-run triple with none out in the top of the seventh inning, and the Tigers went on to beat the Pirates in a loser-out game at the state 3A tournament at Northwest Nazarene’s Elmore Vail Field.

Allaway then scored on a wild pitch to give Timberlake a three-run lead.

Allaway also earned the win in 2.2 innings of relief.

“I can't say enough about him (Allaway),” Timberlake coach Bryce Johnson said. “That kid all year long has been a steady Eddie, he is so calm and cool under pressure. Hitting that triple to the right-center gap, it was very fitting.”

Allaway threw 15 pitches on Thursday, and was the projected starting pitcher for Saturday. But Johnson brought him over from third in the fifth on Friday to relieve Kenny Wells.

“I looked at him and said, ‘The plan was to use you tomorrow, but we need you today, or there's not going to be a tomorrow,’” Johnson said.

Timberlake (13-13) will play Fruitland (16-8-1) today at 9 a.m. PDT for the consolation title. Fruitland beat Timberlake 3-0 at home on March 17 as part of the Bill Betts Tournament.

The Tigers will be playing for only their second state trophy in program history — and first since 2013, when Johnson and assistant coach Mason Cramer were juniors on the team.

Junior Caden Robinett hit a three-run double in the fourth to increase Timberlake’s lead to 8-3. Robinett finished 3 for 4 with four RBIs and a run scored.

Leadoff man Cooper Lenz, a junior, went 2 for 4 with two doubles, an RBI and three runs scored. Senior Kenny Wells was 2 for 2 with an RBI and three runs scored.

“Our offense woke up; that was nice,” Johnson said. “Kenny Wells pitched well; we couldn’t make a play behind him.”

Timberlake led 9-3 after scoring four in the top of the fourth. Payette tied it with a run in the bottom of the sixth.

The Tigers won despite seven errors.

Timberlake 221 400 3 — 12 9 7

Payette 021 411 0 — 9 8 2

Kenny Wells, Grant Allaway (5) and Caden Robinett; Cameron Strong, Jahzyon Sylva (3), Jacob Penfold (4), Michael O’Campo (7) and Luke Neill.

HITS: TL — Lenz 2, Wells 2, Allaway, Robinett 3, Gallimore. Pay — Morin 2, J. Rodriguez, Neill, Sylva, Anderson 2, Ramos. 2B — Lenz 2, Robinett. 3B — Allaway.

2A

Bear Lake 6

Kellogg 1

OROFINO — The Wildcats, in their first state appearance in program history, went two and out with the loss to the Bears at Orofino High.

Kellogg finished 12-16.

No other information was available.