Nic Bounces Back Into Race With Sweep

The North Idaho College baseball team is playing well, and good luck is coming along for the ride.

Last week, NIC played its way back into the Region 18 North Division race by sweeping three straight from Ricks in Rexburg, Idaho.

The first win came after an eight-run seventh inning wiped out a 6-3 deficit. In the final game, NIC rallied from a 4-1 hole with a two-out, 10-run rally in the ninth that included a favorable bounce on pinch-hitter Rob Sheridan’s dribbler down the third-base line.

Sheridan stopped running as the ball trickled foul. But the ball took a bizarre kick off the edge of the grass into fair territory, struck third base and hopped into the surprised hands of Viking Wade Bell.

Sheridan beat feet for first. Bell, outstanding as Ricks took two of three games against NIC three weeks ago, air-mailed the first baseman with the throw. NIC coach Jack Bloxom insists Sheridan would have been safe anyway; others weren’t so certain. Regardless, the Cardinals went on to smack the Vikings silly with three two-run homers and a two-run double. In all, 10 straight Cards reached base safely, nine hits and a walk, and you’d have thought a T-ball game had broken out.

“I still don’t understand how this happened,” Bloxom said, more happy than confused. “But I do know that I’ve been on the other end,” he said, referring to many previous late-inning losses at Ricks.

The Cards, now tied for first at 7-5 in league, take on rival College of Southern Idaho, also 7-5, in Twin Falls for a three-game set Friday and Saturday. NIC needs to finish in the top two of the four-team North Division to advance to the Region 18 Tournament.

“It should be interesting,” Bloxom said. NIC lost two of three to CSI two weeks ago, but the Cardinals proved last week that history can have little bearing on the present. Especially with a favorable bounce here and there.

Russell commits to NIC

Lake City High’s Brian Russell, most valuable player of the Inland Empire League, said he will sign a letter of intent to play basketball at North Idaho College.

Russell, a 6-3 forward/post at Lake City who will probably play off guard for NIC, averaged 18.6 points and 9.8 rebounds last season.

Russell, who was also being recruited by Seattle Pacific, was selected to the State A-1 first team and was honorable mention on the USA Today all-American team.

Vandals add two

The University of Idaho men’s basketball team has added two more recruits.

They are: Reggie Rose, a 6-foot guard from Garden City (Kansas) Community College, and Jason Jackman, an agile 6-10 forward from Dixie College (St. George, Utah).

Jackman, recruited to the University of Utah two years ago when Idaho coach Joe Cravens was a Ute assistant, shot 58 percent from the field and averaged nearly eight rebounds per game as Dixie finished 23-8 last season.

Rose, first-team all-Jayhawk Conference and allRegion 6, can play point or off guard. Rose has a strong build and is a quick leaper.