PREP BASEBALL: Lake City gets tough, takes two from Post Falls

COEUR d’ALENE — Senior Braeden Newby had a two-run single in the first inning for the Lake City, which led 8-0 after four innings before holding off the visiting Post Falls Trojans 8-6 in the first game of an Inland Empire League doubleheader at Lake City High on Saturday.

Lake City won the second game 19-1.

“We were able to get some hits early, but tried to give it away,” Lake City coach Mike Criswell said of the first game. “We played with some energy and let our pitching back us up. Right now, we know where we’re at and trying to give some guys some opportunities.”

Senior Austin DeBoer hit a two-run home run with one out in the seventh for Post Falls, which was unable to get the tying run on base in the final frame.

“I like the fight that the boys played with at the end of the game,” Post Falls coach Kurt Reese said. “I wish we would have started a little sooner, but it felt like we were one hit away. We woke the bats up, which was good to see.”

In the nightcap, junior Avrey Cherry and Ty Shepard hit first-inning grand slams for the Timberwolves, who scored 14 runs in the first and went on to beat the Trojans in five innings to get the sweep.

It was the fourth doubleheader in eight days for first-place Lake City (14-4, 11-3 IEL), which won six of eight games over that stretch.

“We’ve been having some discussions and haven’t been doing the right kind of work,” Criswell said. “We’d been trying to just take it one inning at a time, and had been getting out of that a little bit. We’ve been preaching about getting back to work and getting tougher, and it’s made a huge difference.”

Post Falls (10-5, 7-5) junior Caleb Jimmerson, the projected starting pitcher in the second game, was ejected in the first game and was unable to play in the second game.

“It completely destroyed our plan on the mound in the second game,” Reese said. “It puts us in a tough spot next week against Lake City (Tuesday) and at Moscow (Thursday). We just weren’t the same after that. Hopefully we can bounce back and put together a day on Tuesday.”

The teams meet again on Tuesday, with Lake City visiting Post Falls for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.

FIRST GAME
Post Falls    000    004    2    —    6    5    2

Lake City    410    300    x    —    8    5    5

Austin DeBoer, Jackson George (2), Danny Devoren (4), Kyler Cooley (6) and Marshall Tomlinson; Cooper Reese, Kyle Johnson (4), Mark Holecek (6), Avrey Cherry (7) and Cooper Smith.

HITS: PF — A. Tomlinson, DeBoer, Ziegler, French, Diamond. LC — Shepard, Usdrowski, Newby, Dannenberg, Dixon. 2B — A. Tomlinson, Ziegler, Dannenberg. HR — DeBoer.

SECOND GAME

Post Falls    100    00    —    1    1    2

Lake City    (14)05    0x    —    19    10    1

Isaac Ziegler, G. Wienker (1), Kaleb Gadley (1), Marshall Tomlinson (3), Gabe Diamond (3) and Aidan Tomlinson; Nate Weatherhead, AJ Currie (3), Jake Dannenberg (5) and Cooper Smith.

HITS: PF — French. LC — Shepard 2, Usdrowski 2, Cherry 2, Jimenez, Dixon, Johnson, Hawkins. 2B — Dixon, Shepard, Cherry. HR — Shepard, Cherry.

Coeur d'Alene 6-9

Moscow 5-6

MOSCOW — Senior Zeb Blattstein closed the door in the opener, then he kept it that way in the nightcap.

Blattstein struck out the side in the bottom of the 11th inning in the first game, then allowed three hits in three innings of relief in the nightcap as the Vikings swept the Bears in an Inland Empire League doubleheader at the Moscow School District Community Playfields.

“Zeb did a great job for us today,” Coeur d’Alene coach Erik Karns said. “Moscow’s a good team and kept fighting back. We hit the ball well all day and did enough to come away with a couple of wins.”

Senior Chase Saunders went 8 for 10 on the day, scoring a run in each game for Coeur d’Alene (11-7, 9-5 IEL), which hosts Bonners Ferry in a single game on Monday. Senior Nolan Christ had three hits and two RBIs in the second game for Coeur d’Alene.

“We had a lot of seniors really step up and get the job done today,” Karns said. 

Moscow (7-7, 3-5) visits Sandpoint for a doubleheader on Monday.

FIRST GAME

Coeur d’Alene    002    102    000    01    —    6    15    3

Moscow    100    121    000    00    —    5    8    8

Will Beckenhauer, Trevor Rodda (4), Tyler Voorhees (5), Zeb Blattstein (11) and Chase Saunders; Keaton Clark, Connor Isakson (4), Ollie Spencer (6) and Tyson Izzo.

HITS: Cd’A — Christ 2, Trunkey-Evans 3, Saunders 4, Foulk 2, Helms 3, Coey. Mos — Breese, Green 2, Izzo, McLaughlin 2, Isakson, Hurley. 2B — Coey, Saunders, Trunkey-Evans, Isakson. 3B — McLaughlin.

SECOND GAME

Coeur d’Alene    040    014    0    —    9    15    4

Moscow    010    030    2    —    6    6    1

Bam Fenter, Zeb Blattstein (5) and Chase Saunders; Ethan McLaughlin, Andrew Hurley (4) and Tyson Izzo. 

HITS: Cd’A — Christ 3, Fenter 2, Saunders 4, Foulk, Helms 4, Coey. Mos — Breese, McLaughlin, Anderson, Isakson, Spencer. 2B — Helms. 3B — Christ.

Lewiston 5-13

Sandpoint 1-4

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint senior Finn Mellander notched a hit in both games for the Bulldogs, who were swept by the visiting Bengals at Pine Street Park.

In the first game, Sandpoint’s lone run and extra-base hit came from Lucas Hansen, who doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning; he was eventually hit home by Jacob Hansen the next at-bat. Jesse Turner struck out six batters across six innings. Lewiston’s Carson Kolb struck out 13 batters over seven innings of work for the Bengals.

In the second game, Sandpoint’s Parker Reichart and Drew Lehman both hit RBI singles in the second, Soren Caprio an RBI double in the third to take a 4-3 lead, but the Bengals scored 10 runs between the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings to come away with the victory.

Sandpoint (6-9, 2-8) hosts Moscow for a doubleheader on Monday.

Lewiston (9-7, 6-6) travels to Lakeland for a doubleheader on Tuesday.

FIRST GAME
Lewiston 010 200 2 — 5 11 0
Sandpoint 000 000 1 — 1 8 2

Jesse Turner, Jorden Tyler (7) and was Coleman Inge; Carson Kolb and River Stamper.
HITS: Lew — Phillips 2, Wagner 2, Kennedy, Way, Krasselt, Stamper, Kolb, Ray, Topp. Spt — Medeiros 2, Little, Williams, Turner, Mellander, Tyler, L. Hansen. 2B — L. Hansen, Kolb, Stamper, Wagner. 3B — Ray.

SECOND GAME
Lewiston 102 330 4 — 13 14 2
Sandpoint 031 000 0 — 4 6 6

Brent Campbell, Jorden Tyler (5), Parker Reichart (6) and Coleman Inge and Gavin Day. Mason Way, Cody Ray (2) and Carson Kolb. 

HITS: Lew — Green 3, Ray 2, Kolb 2, Phillips 2, Topp 2, Wagner 2, Bambacigno. Spt — Lehman 2, Mellander 1, L. Hansen 1, Caprio 1, Reichart 1. 2B — Caprio, Topp, Kolb, Ray, Green.

Grangeville 9-8

St. Maries 2-4

ST. MARIES — The Lumberjacks fell to 9-10 overall, and 5-4 in the Central Idaho League following a sweep by the Bulldogs (13-3, 5-3) at City Park.

Wyatt Holmes had two hits and a run scored in the second game for St. Maries, which travels to Orofino for a single game on Tuesday.

FIRST GAME

Grangeville    002    210    4    —    9    10    0

St. Maries    101    000    0    —    2    3    0

Sam Lindsley, David Goicoa (3) and Goicoa, Thayn Williams (3); Wyatt Holmes, Landen Holmes (6) and Gabe Long.

HITS: Grange — Goicoa 3, Holes, Klement, Lindsley 2, Argon, Sickles, Mundt. SM — Long, W. Holmes 2. 2B — Argon, Goicoa 3, Lindsley 2. 

SECOND GAME

Grangeville    112    202    0    —    8    15    0

St. Maries    102    010    0    —    4    10    0

Cody Klement, Carter Mundt (5), David Goicoa (6) and Thayn Williams, Klement (5); Kody Tefft, Milo Marsh (5) and Gabe Long.

HITS: Grange — Goicoa 2, Holes, Klement 3, Lindsley 2, Jackson, Ebert, Sickles 2, Mundt 2, Argon. SM — Gibson, Marsh, L. Holmes, W. Holmes 2, Tefft, Abell, Nantell, Long 2. 2B — Klement 2, Mundt, Lindsley. 3B — Goicoa.

    MARK NELKE/Press Post Falls second baseman Jaxon Austin (11) ranges into shallow center field to catch a popup, as Trojans shortstop Gabe Diamond (13) looks on Saturday during the first game against Lake City at Lake City High.