Rook’s Late Moves Let Vikings End Game

After closing the floodgates on the mound in a game that was slipping away from his team, Coeur d’Alene High’s Nick Rook stepped to the plate and kept the Vikings’ season alive.

Rook opened the bottom of the seventh inning with a double to start a rally that ended when Joe Wagner’s single gave the Vikings a 9-8 victory over Post Falls Saturday at North Idaho College.

Coeur d’Alene then moved into the title game, which was washed out with Lewiston leading 3-0 in the bottom of the second. Play will resume from that point Monday at 1 p.m. If Lewiston wins, it will advance to the state tournament in Boise on Thursday. Coeur d’Alene (18-8) must beat the Bengals twice to advance.

Rook’s late heroics Saturday atoned for a shaky start.

“I had a couple of errors early in the game and I was just trying to make up for them in the seventh,” he said.

Rook was called in from shortstop to stop a Vikings nightmare in the top of the seventh and he ended up earning the victory.

Post Falls had the bottom of the order up, trailing by five runs. So coach John Pettoello decided to empty the bench in hopes of producing some runs. His plan worked as three of four pinch hitters came around to score.

“I got my bench players some atbats early in the season, so I didn’t feel odd about them being out there,” Pettoello said.

Then, faced with the heart of the Trojans’ batting order, CdA coach Paul Mather replaced starting pitcher Mark Scates with Ben Ziegler.

Ziegler’s first pitch found the backstop, and Pat Way scored to bring PF within a run. Clean-up hitter Ryan Ries tied the game with a single to right field. Rook then came in to get the last two outs.

In the bottom of the inning, Rook reached third base thanks to an a error on his double. Intentional walks to Todd Hughes and Jesse Hoorelbeke, who had hit his fifth home run of the year earlier, followed.

After a force-out at home, Wagner blooped a single to center to bring home Hughes and end the game.

“They chipped away at us, but we found a way to win,” Mather said.

Post Falls controlled the early innings. The Trojans built a 3-0 lead through their half of the third inning, and starting pitcher Brad Medlock set down the first six Vikings he faced.

The game took a quick turn in the bottom of the third. Coeur d’Alene’s Andy Gore led off the inning with a home run and four more runs gave the Vikings a 5-3 lead.

“Gore really got us sparked today” Mather said. “We needed a big hit.”

The Vikings (18-8) picked up three more runs before Wagner’s game winner after Medlock began to falter.

Post Falls (11-10) replaced Medlock with James Ownbey in the bottom of the fifth. Ownbey ended up taking the loss.

“We’re going to be OK,” Pettoello said. “We really would have liked to go to state.”