Coeur d’Alene storms ahead, holds off Lake City
The Coeur d’Alene baseball team opened a 9-0 lead through two innings over crosstown rival Lake City.
Forgive first-year Vikings coach Nick Rook if he felt his team had just a one-run lead. The way his team has had a propensity to give up runs, not even Rook thought the margin was safe.
But the Vikings’ pitching finally supported their offense, and Coeur d’Alene prevailed 11-6 in an Inland Empire League game Thursday.
“Sometimes we take innings off, and we took the middle innings off today,” Rook said. “But we played the beginning and the end pretty well.”
CdA (3-5 overall, 1-2 league) batted around in the second inning, scoring seven runs on six hits. Ryan Dunton had a two-run double and Alex Krapas and Matt Cade each followed with run-scoring doubles.
LC’s bats finally woke up in the third. The Timberwolves (4-2, 0-1) scored five runs in the inning, the big hit coming on a two-run double by Bryce Mort.
The T-Wolves pulled within 9-6 an inning later when Kyle Kausen doubled to knock in a run.
In the sixth, CdA got two key runs when Jackson Seaman lined an opposite-field double to right.
“That two-run double was the nail in the coffin,” said first-year LC coach Darren Taylor, who had head-coaching stints as the T-Wolves’ softball and girls basketball coach before taking over for Cory Bridges.
Taylor said he thought he made a rookie coaching mistake early. He planned to use Grant Curtis in relief, but not until the fourth or fifth inning.
“So he wasn’t ready and that was my fault,” Taylor said. “I take blame for about three of those (early) runs.”
Left-hander J.J. Turbin started for the Vikings, striking out nine, walking three and allowing six hits in five innings. Seaman was especially effective in relief, striking out LC in order in the sixth.
“From start to finish that was probably our best pitching,” Rook said. “We did a good job working ahead and staying ahead in counts.”
Turbin and Seaman also led CdA at the plate. Turbin had three hits and Seaman had three RBIs.