U-Hi Baseball Opens In Fine Form

University High School baseball coach Don Ressa figures his team will be tabbed as a contender for the Greater Spokane League championship.

Though he sees perennial power Mead still the team to beat, Ressa has one specific reason why he expects the Titans to improve on their sixth-place league finish last year: experience.

“We lost just two starters,” said Ressa, whose team opened the season Thursday with a 4-1 win over Coeur d’Alene at North Idaho College.

Another reason why the Titans will be much improved is pitching. Senior right-hander Andy Furlott picked up Thursday where he left off in a 10-3 American Legion season, striking out five and scattering four hits while allowing no walks over five innings.

Furlott, who rarely threw a ball off the plate, didn’t allow a called ball until facing CdA’s sixth batter. Viking David Goodwin reached base on a deep infield single in the second inning, but it took CdA until the fourth before it got its first solid contact at the plate.

“He’s got command of three pitches,” Ressa said of the lanky 6-foot-2, 165-pound Furlott. “The thing about him is he probably throws too many strikes. He’s around the plate all the time. We’d like to see him get off the plate when he gets ahead. He’s going to be a good one.”

Despite the loss, first-year Vik coach Paul Mather was upbeat about his team.

“It’s early season. I’m not going to push this team,” Mather said. “This team has a lot of potential. We’re going to make early season mistakes.”

CdA pitchers Mark Scates and Jason Quast combined to allow just two earned runs as the Viks committed five errors.

U-Hi put runners in scoring position in every inning. Scates, a sophomore right-hander who started, worked out of jams in the first two innings before an error, coupled with two wild pitches, allowed the Titans’ first run in the third inning.

The Titans got what would prove to be the winning run in the fifth. Mike Bartlett led off with a single against reliever Jason Quast. Two batters later, Bartlett scored on a soft single to right by Kevin May.”I was really pleased with our pitching,” Mather said. “All the kids work hard. That’s why in the end because we’ll outwork people. You watch.”

CdA returns to action Saturday when it travels to Mead for a single game at 11:30 a.m. It will be a doubleheader of sorts for Mead, though.

Mead was scheduled Thursday to play at Lake City in Coeur d’Alene, but the game was canceled because LC’s new field was unplayable because of rain earlier in the week. LC will travel to Mead to meet the Panthers at 3 following their game with CdA.

College baseball: The Community Colleges of Spokane split a doubleheader with North Idaho College at Spokane Falls.

In the first game, the Cardinals held off the Sasquatch 4-3 behind two hits by Jason Martin. In the final game, CCS won 4-3 in eight innings on a bases-loaded single by Pat Fischer.

College basketball: Ricks College rallied from 19 points down, but fell short in a 74-71 setback to Logan (Carterville, Ill.) in the quarterfinals of the women’s National Junior College Athletic Association Basketball Tournament at Tyler, Texas. The Vikings (32-3) play Pearl River (Poplarville, Miss.) this afternoon.

Prep football: Shawn Amos has been selected as Kellogg High School’s new football coach.

Amos, who played football at Moscow High and the University of Idaho, was an assistant under previous coach Bill Alf, who resigned after two seasons with a 1-15 record.

Amos will continue as Kellogg’s head wrestling coach.