Split Puts Lewiston In Control

Prep baseball

During most high school baseball seasons in North Idaho, the winner of the Lewiston-Coeur d’Alene series ends up winning the league championship.

So put Lewiston in the proverbial driver’s seat.

The visiting Bengals remained atop the Inland Empire League Tuesday by splitting with Coeur d’Alene. Lewiston breezed 11-2 in the opener and the Vikings rebounded with a 9-4 decision in the nightcap.

Lewiston (7-2 league, 13-3 overall) swept a league-opening doubleheader against Coeur d’Alene (7-3, 10-8) last month by scores of 4-2 and 5-4.

So if CdA hopes to win the league title it must get some help. If the Viks and Bengals finish in a tie, Lewiston gets the top postseason seed based on head-to-head games. League play concludes a week from Saturday.

“I told the kids before we came up here that if we get one (win), we’ve accomplished what we needed to do, if we get two, it’s gravy and if we get swept, we’d better be ready to battle,” Lewiston coach Tom Grunenfelder said. “The key for us is if we win out we win it.”

The Viks could have leapfrogged ahead of Lewiston in the standings with a sweep, but the Bengals never allowed that scenario to develop.

Lewiston coupled timely hitting with poor Viking pitching to open a 4-0 lead in the first. The Bengals extended it to 6-0 in the second before CdA scored a run in the bottom of the inning.

Tony Picchena and Brian Burton had RBI singles in the first inning, and four walks by CdA pitcher Kurt Gosch allowed two more runs.

Gosch walked eight. If the Bengals reaching base by walk didn’t score the mistakes allowed Lewiston to extend the inning.

But in baseball, there is always a chance for redemption.

After Gosch was toasted in the opener, he came back to help cook the Bengals in the nightcap.

Similar to the opener, CdA jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first inning. Gosch extended the advantage to 8-1 with a two-run homer in the second inning. He finished with three hits in the game.

And what Gosch couldn’t do on the mound, teammate Casey Hoorelbeke did.

The senior right-hander threw a three-hitter. A long first game caused the rapidly played second to end minutes before darkness.

“The first game was indicative of how we played early in the season,” Grunenfelder said. “Then we gave up six unearned runs in the first inning (of the second game).”

Lewiston pitcher Justin Miller wasn’t overpowering, but kept the Viks off balance.

CdA coach Brian Holgate gave credit to Miller, but also thought his team was passive early.

“We did not compete at the plate,” Holgate said. “There were too many situations where we swung at bad pitches or we just didn’t take good hacks.

“The second game, we were much different. We were aggressive.”

Burton has hit safely in Lewiston’s 16 games. He needed a hit in his last at bat to extend his streak.

After losing its first nine league games, Lake City broke through by sweeping Sandpoint 13-10 and 17-3 in a marathon Inland Empire League doubleheader at Sandpoint.

No other details were available. LC improved to 4-12 overall. Sandpoint dropped to 8-8 overall, 3-6 in league..

At Post Falls, the Trojans scored five runs in the fifth and sixth innings to rally past the Lumberjacks 11-7 in a non-league game.

Josh Mann led the Trojans (8-4 overall) with four RBIs. Teammate Ben Sharon also had four RBIs. Brian Lounsbury and Skyler Willard each had two hits for St. Maries (7-8).

In a non-league game at Moscow, the Bears posted a 10-0 shutout over East Valley.

Adam Busch tossed a one-hitter for Moscow (13-5). The Bears, who had just five hits, put the game away early with eight runs in the second inning.