Cardinals Earn Split With Csi

College baseball

In the twisted, tangled Region 18 North Division baseball standings, North Idaho College knows only two things for sure.

To have any chance of making next week’s Region 18 Tournament, the Cardinals must beat Treasure Valley today at noon and hope that College of Southern Idaho defeats Ricks at least once.

NIC put itself in the peculiar position of rooting for rival CSI by losing 5-4 and 6-3 to visiting Treasure Valley on Friday.

“About the only positive thing was they were two pretty good ball games,” NIC coach Jack Bloxom said. “But we lost.”

All four teams remain alive for the North’s two tournament spots. CSI is 9-6, Ricks 8-8, Treasure 8-9 and NIC 7-9. CSI lost once to Ricks on Friday, but was leading 4-3 in the fifth inning of the second game when rain forced postponement. The game will be finished today along with another. NIC needs at least one CSI win for tiebreaker considerations.

The idea of an eight-team tournament (four North, four South), was broached, but regional director Glenn Dalling said Friday night that southern teams “weren’t too receptive” to the idea.

NIC wasn’t too receptive to throwing strikes in the fifth inning of Friday’s opener. With two outs, pitcher Steve Schorzman plunked the No. 9 batter, then walked three straight to tie the score at 1-1. The Chukars pushed across four more runs on singles by Bo Barrus and Alfredo Monarrez, and reliever Paul Decelle’s wild pitch.”I probably would have needed a crescent wrench to get the ball from Skolrud,” said Baumann, whose club was 2-7 before making its late-season charge. “And I didn’t have one with me.”Metz fanned on a pitch out of the strike zone.

The second game proved frustrating for the Cardinals as Jason Bowles tried to pitch despite a tender elbow and yielded two runs in the first inning. He exited two pitches into the second inning.

The Chukars put on a bunting clinic - four resulted in hits - and generally outexecuted the Cards in building a 6-1 lead in the seventh.

NIC scored on Mark Collins’ bases-loaded walk, but the bags were left packed when Ryan Tarasoff struck out and Jason Bartell flied out to end the seventh. Two promising rallies fizzled in the eighth and ninth innings.

“We hit the ball well in practice all week and then we didn’t hit today,” said NIC’s Chris McGregor. “That’s tough to take.”

Treasure Valley 5-6, North Idaho 4-3

TVCC 000 050 0 - 5 5 1 North Idaho 100 021 0 - 4 10 2

Skolrud and Shafer; Schorzman, Decelle (5) and Metz. W-Skolrud (5-4). L-Schorzman (4-4).

HITS: TV-K. Ray, Barrus, Monarrez, Dalton, Echaniz. NICMartin 3, Danton 2, Collins, Fike 2, Metz, Sheridan. HR-Metz (6).

TVCC 200 201 100 - 6 14 1 North Idaho 000 100 101 - 3 6 2

Brown, Stricker (7) and Shafer; Bowles, Opdahl (2), Stephens (7) and Metz, Danton (8). W-Brown 4-3. L-Bowles 5-4.

HITS: TV-Barrus 2, Monarrez 2, Dalton 2, Echaniz 2, K. Ray 2, Hartley 2, Shafer, Bidwell. NICMetz, Tarasoff, Sheridan, Martin, Fike, McGregor. 2B-Sheridan, Martin. HR-Tarasoff (2).

Gonzaga 15, PSU 5

Corey Jacobs stroked a two-run single to highlight a six-run fifth-inning outburst as Gonzaga sent 11 batters to the plate and went on to cruise past Portland State in a Pacific-10 North Division baseball game at Civic Stadium in Portland.

Darin Blood struck out 11 in six innings of pitching to pick up his 12th win of the season against only three losses. Corey Wong came on to pitch three innings of one-hit relief to record his first save of the year.

Matt Brunnell belted his first home run of the season, a two-run blast that scored Jacobs in the third inning, and finished with three hits and three runs batted in.

Scott Morgan recorded seven putouts in right field, had three hits and scored three runs. Jacobs added a pair of hits to drive in three runs and scored three times.

The teams play a doubleheader in Civic Stadium at noon today.

Gonzaga 002 463 000 - 15 16 1 Portland St. 000 220 100 - 5 7 3

Blood, Wong (7) and Norton; Schmidt, Wheeler (5) and Burkeen, Oulman (7). W-Blood (12-3). L-Schmidt (2-8). Sv-Wong (1).

HITS: Gonzaga-Brunnell 3, Masterson, Wong, Morgan 3, Norton, Hare 2, Olson, Jacobs 2, Branch 2. Portland St.-Dorey 2, Range, Nielson, Crowston 2, Burkeen. 2B- Jacobs, Masterson, Morgan , Norton, Dorey. 3B-Olsen. HR-Brunnell (1), Nielson (2), Range (6).

Whitworth at Lewis & Clark, ppd.

The game between the Pirates and the Pioneers in Portland was rained out and will be made up as part of a noon doubleheader today.