Viks’ Rally Caps Sweep

Pitcher Matt Brown knew he was going to be pulled when Coeur d’Alene baseball coach Brian Holgate walked to the mound Friday in the first inning of the crucial second game against rival Lewiston.

When Holgate motioned for the ball, Brown pulled it back. But the scoreboard behind the right-center field fence showed why Holgate had to make a change: Lewiston led 7-0.

Brown stayed in the game at shortstop, and four innings later redeemed himself when he hit what proved to be a game-winning, three-run homer.

A week after getting embarrassed at Lewiston, Coeur d’Alene leaped over the visiting Bengals into first place by sweeping a Border League doubleheader. The Viks pulled away to a 17-5 decision in the opener stopped after five innings by the 10-run rule before rallying for a 14-11 win to secure the tiebreaking edge for the postseason.

The Viks moved to 13-2 in league, 15-4 overall with a week left in the regular season. Lewiston is 12-3, 14-4.

If CdA finishes no worse than tied with Lewiston, the Viks will play at home throughout the regional tournament. Home-field advantage could be key considering the region gets just one berth to state.

Brown wanted to keep pitching because he thought he’d regain his control - despite surrendering five hits, including a three-run homer, walking two and hitting two batters.

Holgate was pleased that Brown disagreed with his decision.

“You know what, a good pitcher shouldn’t want to come out,” Holgate said. “Especially when he knows he was a better pitcher than he was today. … He could easily have pouted that whole game, but he came through with a clutch three-run homer to put us ahead.”

CdA, trailing 10-2 coming to bat in the second inning in the nightcap, chipped away at Lewiston’s lead.

In the fifth inning, Nate Church hit a run-scoring double to trim the deficit to 11-9. Three batters later, Brown put the Viks ahead 12-11 with his shot to straightaway center.

“I just let it go and went to shortstop and I thought about it,” Brown said of the first inning. “I just said `I’ll just do it with the stick.”’

All the Vikings were seemingly doing it with their sticks. Each starter had at least a hit in each game. Ryan Holland led with six hits and five RBIs in the two games; Jayson Coleman had five hits and four RBIs; Joe Morelli had five hits and six RBIs, all coming in the first game; and four other players had three or more hits.

CdA has won six straight since its loss at Lewiston. In that span, the Viks have outscored their opponents 88-33 and piled up 83 hits.

Left-hander Nick Zeppi did a solid job in long relief of Brown. After allowing three runs in the second inning, Zeppi gave up just one more the next 4-2/3 innings.

“I can’t say enough about Nick Zeppi. That’s just a gutsy effort,” Holgate said. “Definitely the player of the game right there.”

All Lewiston coach Tom Grunenfelder could do was praise the Viks.

“We just couldn’t figure out a way to stop them,” Grunenfelder said.

Kevin Reese struck out 11 and had a pair of RBI singles to lead Lakeland (16-4, 11-2) to an 8-2 Intermountain League win over Timberlake (3-13, 1-9) at Spirit Lake. Jeremy McMillen singled and doubled for Lakeland. Timberlake’s Pat Bergen had two hits.

Softball

Coeur d’Alene moved back into first place in the Border League after sweeping visiting Lewiston 3-1 and 11-1. Lewiston knocked the Viks out of first last week when the Bengals beat CdA 5-4 in extra innings. The Viks (17-3) raised their league record to 13-3. Second-place Lake City (12-3) was idle.

CdA and LC face lower-division teams in the final week of the regular season. If the teams finish tied, the Viks will have home-field advantage throughout the regional tournament because of taking two of three games head-to-head.

Viks pitcher Blake Hoorelbeke (11-2) struck out nine in the opener after a shaky start. Lewiston’s run was unearned. CdA scored the go-ahead run in the fourth on a single by Stephanie Ferro.

In the second game, Viks freshman Devlin Dougherty (6-1) didn’t allow a walk for a third straight game. Camas Weaver had four hits for Lewiston (13-8, 11-6).

At Spirit Lake, Casi Reisenauer was 3 for 3 with two runs and two RBIs as Timberlake (9-6, 7-3) upset Lakeland 9-1 in the Intermountain League. Lisa Fox (6-3) scattered three singles to hand the Hawks (14-4, 12-1) their first IML loss. Bobbi Jo Tweedy had two Lakeland hits.

Shena Charles pitched a five-inning one-hitter and Lauren Cuvala went 3 for 3 with two runs, helping St. Maries (13-6) defeat visiting Orofino 10-0 for a split of a non-league doubleheader. Orofino had five hits during a four-run fourth and won the opener 8-5. Nikki Gibson of St. Maries went 2 for 3 with two RBIs in the opener, and Tammy Addington was 2 for 4 with three RBIs in the second game.