Viks Settle For Split, Despite Fine Pitching

Coeur d’Alene figured to need more than just great pitching in order to sweep Saturday’s Inland Empire League baseball doubleheader against Post Falls.

Pitching, however, was all the Vikings got. So they settled for a split.

“Our pitchers pitched great,” Vikings coach Brian Holgate said after watching his team win the opener 8-6 behind the dominant pitching of Casey Hoorelbeke, before dropping the nightcap 7-1. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

The split left CdA (8-4 in league, 11-9 overall) in second behind Lewiston in the IEL standings. Post Falls is now 6-6, 9-7.

Hoorelbeke struck out 14 and walked just one in the opening game.

“It felt really good,” he said, while putting a bag of ice on his shoulder. “It didn’t seem like I could do anything wrong - I felt really confident.”

Hoorelbeke needed every ounce of confidence he could muster, having been forced to pitch his team out of late jams in the sixth and seventh innings.

Post Falls sent the top of its lineup to the plate in the seventh. Josh Mann singled and Nick Ursillo was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Rick Pettit’s RBI single cut CdA’s lead to 8-6.

With the tying run on first, Hoorelbeke struck out the final batter to claim his fifth win, explaining later that he used variations of his fastball for effectiveness.

“I wasn’t trying for strike outs,” he said.”I just wanted them to hit it so my fielders could put them out.”

Earlier in the opener, Post Falls snagged a short-term lead with four-runs in the fourth inning. Singles by Matt Schrag and Pettit and a bunt by Larry Shenfield over the head of 6-foot-6 Hoorelbeke loaded the bases.

With two outs, sophomore Scott Klaudt laced a two-run single to right-center field and Klaudt, showing exceptional base running savvy, stole third and later scored on a passed ball, putting Post Falls ahead 4-2.

CdA took the lead for good at 5-4 in the bottom of the inning. With the score tied 5-5, the Viks scored the eventual winning runs in the sixth on RBI singles by David Seccombe and Rob Crain.

The Trojans struck quickly in the second game as first-inning singles by Clint Dobson and Scott Chamberlain accounted for three runs. An inning later, Mann singled and scored on consecutive passed balls to put Post Falls ahead 7-0.

“We didn’t play good defense at all in both games,” Holgate said. “We haven’t made many errors (this season) that cost us. Today (we) did, and they took advantage of it.”

The Trojans received a strong second-game pitching effort from junior Andy Mikles, who struck out four and allowed only four hits. His off-speed curve ball left batters looking, as it landed several third-strike calls.