Pocatello Capitalizes On Walks In 12-4 Win

A walk in the park took on a new meaning to Prairie and Pocatello in the Idaho Class AA state American Legion baseball tournament Tuesday.

The teams combined for 23 walks, but Pocatello had the hotter bats as the Rebels avenged an earlier loss to Prairie and eliminated the Cardinals of Post Falls 12-4 at Harris Field. Prairie had won 19-7 on Saturday.

Prairie, the District I runner-up, finished fourth. It was 2-2 here, 32-28 for the season.

Pocatello (38-20) followed with a 15-0 win over Trail, British Columbia, and will meet Nampa (33-16) for the championship today.

“We just got beat by a good team,” said Prairie coach Darren Taylor. “Nobody thought we would be here, so our guys can hold their heads high.”

Pocatello garnered its 12 runs on 11 hits, 13 walks and four Prairie errors while starting pitcher Mark Holbrook and reliever Joey Cleaves limited Prairie to just four hits.

“We got the walks when we needed them and a few hits here and there,” said Pocatello coach Jim Colson. “We made the big plays when we needed them.”

Prairie had two players picked off base, both with the bases loaded.

The Cardinals got a run in the first inning on a walk to Kevin Bridge, who advanced on a hit batsman and wild pitch. He scored on a single by Ryan Novak. The final runs came in the fourth on five consecutive walks from Holbrook and an infield error.

That tied the score 4-4. The Rebels punched across eight runs in their next five at-bats for the win.

Both coaches attributed the walks in part to the umpire’s small strike zone. Taylor said his team’s trademark as hackers (“We don’t even have a take sign.”) was switched to batters taking a called first strike before swinging. “We scored three runs that way,” he said.

The strategy failed after that as Cleaves walked only one in the next five innings, giving up just two hits and struck out five.

“He’s 10-1, so he’s a good pitcher,” Taylor said.

The Rebels scored two runs in each of the first two innings, and another in the bottom of the fourth gave them a 5-4 advantage. Pocatello blew open the game in the sixth with five runs on three hits, three walks and one error. Its final two runs came in the eighth.

Prairie starter Brett DeBoer, who took the loss, was relieved by Joel Gorham in the sixth.

Jason Oliver had three singles for Pocatello, while Mikee Blackhawk and Shawn Davis each had two singles.

Besides Novak’s two singles, DeBoer and Gorham also had singles for Prairie.

Pocatello 12, Prairie 4

Prairie 100 300 000 -4 4 4 Pocatello 220 105 02x -12 11 2

DeBoer, Gorham and Phelps. Holbrook, Cleaves and Allen. W - Cleaves. L - DeBoer.

HITS: Prairie - Novak 2, Gorham and DeBoer. Pocatello - Allen, Swallow, Blackhawk 2, Davis 2, Kunz (2B), Oliver 3 and Holbrook (2B).