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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

This was a doubleheader of sorts

It wasn’t exactly Dickensian, but Tuesday’s baseball matchup between Mt. Spokane and University, won by Mt. Spokane’s Wildcats 5-4 was decidedly a tale of two games.

The first part was a speedy pitchers duel between the Wildcats’ Drew Rasmussen and the Titans’ Davis Hill. They allowed a combined five hits and a single run in the four-plus innings.

The second part was an offensive outburst that left everyone on the edge of their seats.

Mt. Spokane, trailing 1-0, pounded six hits in the fifth and sixth innings to rally for a 5-1 lead. U-Hi sent eight men to the plate in the top of the seventh, cutting that advantage to 5-4 with two on before Rasmussen ended the game with a strikeout.

Hill had given up just two hits in four innings before things unraveled following a one-out error. Although he labored throughout, Rasmussen surrendered three hits in six innings and a third-inning run on Cole Sorensen’s double and groundout by Matt Adams.

Staked to a comfortable lead in the fifth and sixth, Rasmussen’s high pitch count caught up to him in the final inning. He allowed three hits and hit a batter, and defensive lapses let U-Hi rally.

Wildcat Jordan Fitzpatrick had plated the tying run with a double in the fifth and hit a two-run single in the sixth. He finished 3 for 4.

It’s in the numbers

The first release of GSL statistics had some interesting tidbits. Jake Leavy leads the league in hitting, going 10 for 14 for a .714 average despite batting eighth in the Mt. Spokane order. Mead’s Jordan McGowan was second at .688, ahead of four Gonzaga Prep Bullpups, and tied with Mt. Spokane’s Connor Cantu with 11 RBIs. McGowan also won his third game as a pitcher.

Post Falls’ futility ends

It had been 18 losses and nearly five years since Post Falls last beat Coeur d’Alene. The losing streak ended this week with a 3-2 eight-inning victory to open the Inland Empire League season.

Derek Baumgarner hit a walk-off RBI single to score Ryan Hunt. Pitcher Hunt struck out 11. … Lewiston pitcher Kyler Brooks was a walk away from pitching a perfect game during a 10-0 five-inning victory over Lake City in the second game of a home doubleheader. The Bengals won the opener 1-0, with Brooks scoring the winner.

Topsy-turvy GNL

West Valley had a chance to open up a sizeable lead in the Great Northern League after sweeping a Saturday doubleheader against East Valley.

Instead of a three-game advantage, however, a 4-1 road loss in Clarkston to the Bantams left the Eagles (7-1) just one game up in the loss column over the Bantams (8-2) with Cheney and East Valley another game back.

New guy prescient

Coaches who responded to a Northeast A League preseason questionnaire pegged Medical Lake to be a midpack finisher. All, that is, but veteran Kettle Falls coach Landon Johnston, whose team is new to the league. He picked the ML Cardinals first.

Medical Lake, at 6-0, has a two-game lead over Lakeside and Freeman (both 5-2).

Kettle Falls had moved back up to 1A from 2B.

“Our school’s enrollment actually went down this year, yet we moved up a classification,” Johnston wrote in his questionnaire. “Our numbers are so low we combined with Inchelium.”