Atlas, Prairie Twinbill Transfigures Baseball Into The Sighing Game
Idaho Legion baseball
Jesse Hoorelbeke let out a giant sigh of relief after Atlas posted a 4-1 victory over Prairie in the opener of a District 1 American Legion baseball doubleheader on Thursday afternoon.
And Prairie’s Cardinals did the same in the late game at McEuen Field, as they wasted a 7-0 lead and settled for an 11-9 win.
“We wanted to sweep them,” Lumbermen assistant coach Brian Holgate said. “We were not happy with some of the pitching in the second game. We did not hit the spot like we were supposed to and they hit our mistakes.”
Holgate, however, was happy with Hoorelbeke’s performance. The right-hander threw a fivehitter, with five strikeouts and five walks.
Hoorelbeke’s three-run homer, which cleared the 360-foot left-field fence, proved to be the game-winning hit, as well.
“Jesse has trouble finishing games at times,” Holgate said. “He coasts in the last couple innings, which should be his best two.”
“It’s really a relief to finally get a win in the column,” Hoorelbeke (1-6) admitted. “I owe it mostly to the defense. Everybody played together.”
Josh Phelps returned from a broken rib to boost Prairie, hitting 7 for 8 on the day, including a home run and a double in the second game.
Phelps actually broke the rib 1-1/2 weeks ago swinging a bat.
“I’m wearing a brace,” Phelps said. “At first, I had to compensate a little bit. I was out to reverse myself - I had a bad showing (in two losses to Atlas on July 7).”
Extra-base hits powered Prairie to a 6-0 lead after two innings. The visitors scored five runs in the second, three of them on Phelps’ homer to left field, followed by Ryan Novak’s solo home run to center field.
The Cardinals tacked on four runs to make it an 11-3 game in the top of the sixth, getting five consecutive hits, including home runs from Kevin Bridge and Novak, plus a double by Phelps.
Atlas answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring six runs of its own. Five of those runs came with two outs and four were unearned.
“We got lackadaisical,” Phelps said. “We started playing on our heels.”
With two out in the seventh, Atlas put Hoorelbeke and Andy Oss on base with back-to-back singles up the middle, but stranded both runners.
“We’ve got to get the key hits with two outs,” Holgate said.
Prairie (25-20) finished 12-8 in league. The Cardinals play five games in Seattle this weekend.
Six league games remain for Atlas (7-7, 15-23). The Lumbermen go to Moscow on Saturday. Trail, British Columbia, visits on Monday. Tuesday, Atlas closes the regular season at home against Moscow.