PREP BASEBALL: Lake City splits with Lewiston, keeps IEL race tight
COEUR d’ALENE — There was a lot going on at Lake City High on Saturday.
It was (finally) warm.
It was Lake City’s home opener in baseball.
It was also Lake City’s senior day.
Cooper Smith, one of 12 seniors honored between games, homered and drove in three runs in the opener as the Lake City Timberwolves beat the Lewiston Bengals 8-2 in the opener of an Inland Empire League doubleheader.
Lewiston won the second game 7-5.
Smith’s two-run double in the fourth made it 7-0. His homer to right field in the sixth capped the scoring.
Jack Pierce hit a two-run double in the first inning of the first game for Lake City.
Cooper Reese pitched three no-hit innings for the Timberwolves, striking out six and walking none. The lone Lewiston baserunner reached on an error in the third.
The Bengals jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first in the nightcap, and River Stamper finished with a pair of RBIs.
Pierce was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored for Lake City, which had the tying run on base in the last of the seventh before its comeback fell short.
Saturday’s results kept the 5A portion of the IEL pretty well tight.
Lake City (9-3, 6-2 IEL) remains in the lead in the running for the No. 1 seed to regionals, closely followed by Post Falls (8-3, 5-3), Coeur d’Alene (8-6, 6-4) and Lewiston (7-7, 4-6) at roughly the midway point of league play.
Lake City, in the midst of playing four doubleheaders in eight days, travels to Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday for a twinbill.
FIRST GAME
Lewiston 000 002 0 — 2 3 3
Lake City 023 201 x — 8 13 3
Zack Bambacigno, Jayden Estlund (3) and River Stamper; Cooper Reese, Kyle Johnson (4), Mark Holecek (6), Avrey Cherry (7) and Cooper Smith.
HITS: Lew — Phillips, Krasselt, Schumacher. LC — Pierce 2, Hawkins 2, Smith 3, Dannenberg 2, Newby, Jimenez, Shepard 2. 2B — Smith, Dannenberg, Pierce 2. HR — Smith.
SECOND GAME
Lewiston 502 000 0 — 7 7 2
Lake City 201 200 0 — 5 8 7
Wiley Wagner, Austin Topp (1) and River Stamper; AJ Currie, Charlie Dixon (2), Nate Weatherhead (5), Jake Dannenberg (7) and Avrey Cherry.
HITS: Lew — Green, Krasselt, Ray, Kolb 2, Stamper 2. LC — Pierce 2, Holecek 2, Cherry 2, Smith, Jimenez. 2B — Green, Stamper, Smith, Holecek, Pierce. HR — Pierce.
St. Maries 14-9
Priest River 6-5
PRIEST RIVER — Senior Milo Marsh had a two-run triple in the fifth inning, and Trey Gibson scored the go-ahead run after being hit by a pitch in the eighth inning of the second game for the Lumberjacks, who swept the Spartans in a Central Idaho League doubleheader at Priest River High.
Senior Riley Abell and junior Landen Holmes scored two runs each for St. Maries (8-6, 4-2 CIL) in the second game.
In the opener, Marsh — who was twice hit by pitches — scored five runs for the Lumberjacks.
Priest River (0-12, 0-6) faces Kellogg in a doubleheader on Monday at Morehouse Field in Osburn.
St. Maries hosts Kellogg on Tuesday.
FIRST GAME
St. Maries 010 415 3 — 14 16 0
Priest River 010 020 3 — 6 9 0
Landen Holmes, Milo Marsh (6) and Gabe Long; Colton Brooks, Logan Troumbley (5) and Tyson Troudt.
HITS: SM — Long, Abell, L. Holmes 3, W. Holmes 2, Marsh, Gibson 2, Dolar 2, Dittman, Tefft 2, Lingo. PR — Troudt 2, Brooks, Blaine 2, Elder, Troumbley, Kuprienko, Isenberger. 2B — Abell, Dolar, L. Holmes, Blaine, Kuprienko, Brooks. 3B — W. Holmes, Marsh.
SECOND GAME
St. Maries 002 030 04 — 9 12 0
Priest River 002 020 10 — 5 13 0
Kody Tefft, Trey Gibson (5) and Amado Stewart; Broden Collins, Garett Reynolds (6) and Tyson Troudt.
HITS: SM — Long, Abell 3, L. Holmes 3, Marsh, Gibson, Lingo, Stewart 2. PR — Troudt 2, Blaine 2, Collins, Troumbley 2, Kuprienko, Elder, Reynolds 3, Conner. 2B — Stewart, Abell, Troudt, Blaine. 3B — Marsh.
MARK NELKE/Press Lake City left fielder Nate Weatherhead camps under a fly ball during the first game vs. Lewiston on Saturday at Lake City.