PREP BASEBALL: Coeur d'Alene takes two, gives itself a shot at IEL title
LEWISTON — Six straight wins later, Coeur d’Alene has given itself a shot at the Inland Empire League title and top seed to the 5A Region 1 tournament starting May 6.
Coeur d’Alene (14-7, 11-5 IEL), by way of a 5-4 and 10-2 sweep of Lewiston at Church Field, trails league-leading Lake City (14-5, 11-4) by a half game, with the teams scheduled for a doubleheader on Tuesday at Lake City High.
“We’ve talked about it all week,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Erik Karns, whose team has won six straight. We put ourselves into a position where we’re going to determine our own fate and know where we’ll sit.”
Lewiston (11-9, 8-8) visits Post Falls (10-7, 7-7) in a doubleheader on Tuesday.
Coeur d’Alene and Lake City split a doubleheader on April 16 at Coeur d'Alene's Ted Page Field.
“Our guys are confident and playing good baseball,” Karns said. “Offensively, it’s about as good of a team that I’ve coached. And they’re working hard in practice. Whatever happens, we’re going to compete.”
Senior Aidan Blanco struck eight for the Vikings, who overcame six errors in the opener.
“Aidan was superb today,” Karns said. “He had a good three-pitch mix going, and probably gets out of that start with 30 less pitches if we didn’t make those errors. But it was a tremendous outing for him and I’m super proud of him.”
Owen Field tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth inning for Coeur d'Alene, then scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Bam Fenter.
In the nightcap, Nolan Christ and Kolbe Coey drove in two runs each for Coeur d’Alene.
“We’re really starting to pitch the ball well and the bats are continuing to be good,” Karns said. “We’re growing into a pretty good team and doing all the little aspects that you need to do to make a run. We’ve got a chance to compete for a league title, so you can’t ask for anything more from these kids.”
FIRST GAME
Coeur d’Alene 102 002 0 — 5 9 6
Lewiston 020 110 0 — 4 4 1
Aidan Blanco and Chase Saunders; Mason Way, Carson Kolb (6) and Peyton Benebrake.
HITS: Cd’A — Field, Christ, Saunders, Fenter, Trunkey-Evans, Helms, Voorhees 2, Coey. Lew — Bambacigno, Ray, Topp, Way. 2B — Coey, Voorhees, Fenter.
SECOND GAME
Coeur d’Alene 021 205 0 — 10 12 1
Lewiston 000 101 0 — 2 3 5
Will Beckenhauer, Zane Blattstein (6), Zeb Blattstein (7) and Chase Saunders; Drew Hottinger, Jayden Estlund (2) and Grady Kennedy (6) and River Stamper.
HITS: Cd’A — Field 2, Christ, Fenter, Helms 2, Foulk, Trunkey-Evans, Coey 2, Voorhees 2. Lew — Krasselt 2, Phillips. 2B — Coey, Helms.
Grangeville 10-10
Kellogg 0-0
GRANGEVILLE — David Goicoa struck out 11 in the first game and Sam Lindsley fanned 13 in the nightcap for the Bulldogs in back-to-back no-hit wins over the Wildcats in a Central Idaho League doubleheader at Grangeville High.
Goicoa hit two batters and walked one in the opener, Lindsley hit two in the nightcap for Grangeville (18-3, 9–3 CIL).
Kellogg (6-10, 3-6) is scheduled to host St. Maries (9-11, 4-6) in a doubleheader on Tuesday at Morehouse Field in Osburn.
FIRST GAME
Kellogg 000 00 — 0 0 4
Grangeville 053 11 — 10 7 1
Game called with two outs in bottom of 5th inning due to 10-run rule.
Travis Eixenberger, Gabe Nosworthy (5) and Austin Clapper; David Goicoa and Cody Klement.
HITS: Kell — none. Grange — Goicoa, Holes 2, Lindsley, Jackson, Ebert, Sickels. 2B — Goicoa. 3B — Holes. HR — Sickels.
SECOND GAME
Kellogg 000 00 — 0 0 4
Grangeville 311 05 — 10 7 0
Game called with one out in bottom of 5th inning due to 10-run rule.
Austin Clapper, Reed Whatcott (5) and Ethan Coberly; Sam Lindsley and David Goicoa.
HITS: Kell — none. Grange — Holes 2, Klement, Lindsley, Jackson, Ebert, Sickles. 2B — none.