Ridenour Uses Bat This Time Bases-Loaded Double Propels Hawks To Title

For a second straight year, Matt Ridenour of Lakeland had a hand in deciding the A-2 District I baseball title.

Ridenour did it with his bat Saturday. Last year it was with his arm.

The senior outfielder drilled a one-bounce, bases-loaded double to the right-field fence, driving in two runs in the top of the seventh as second-seeded Lakeland slipped past Intermountain League champ St. Maries 5-4 in the dramatic final at North Idaho College.

Last year, Ridenour threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the top of the seventh inning against Bonners Ferry as the Hawks held on 8-7.

“I had to do something again,” Ridenour said, smiling and alluding to his heroics last year. “I was up there at the plate and told myself `Matt you’ve got to come through.’ Then I asked God for some help and I hit it out there.”

Whether there was divine intervention is debatable. But not the outcome.

Lakeland (21-4 overall) advances to the state tourney, which will be held May 18-20 at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore.

St. Maries (21-3) can still earn a state berth. The Lumberjacks will meet Priest River (13-8) in a loser-out game Tuesday at NIC at 4 p.m.

The winner will travel to the District II winner, either Orofino or Grangeville, the following Saturday in a playoff for a state berth.

Orofino and Grangeville play Monday. Orofino won the first game of the best-of-3 series.

In earlier District I games Saturday, Lakeland downed Priest River 7-1 and St. Maries handled Kellogg 11-0 in a game halted after five innings because of the 10-run rule.

In a loser-out game before the title contest, Priest River throttled Kellogg 16-3 in five innings.

Kellogg ended its first season at 4-15.

Lakeland 5, St. Maries 4

Forget the first six innings. The score was tied 2-2 going into the decisive seventh.

Jeremy McMillen and Kevin Reese had back-to-back singles and Dan Dixon walked to load the bases.

St. Maries pitcher Trent Duffey, who relieved starter Pat Eberlin after the leadoff singles, struck out Jason Thomas before Ridenour stepped to the plate.

With St. Maries’ outfielders playing shallow, Lakeland assistant coach Terry Gorton told Ridenour to hit it hard somewhere in the outfield.

“I think (Duffey) threw me two curves so I was expecting fastball,” Ridenour said. “I was ready to jump on it.”

With the Lumberjacks’ appearing a little de flated, Lakeland coach Ken Busch called for a suicide squeeze. Randy Russell executed it perfectly, pushing the ball about 10 feet up the firstbase line. Duffey got to the ball quickly, but his flip toss to catcher Greg Sindt was too late as the all-important fifth run scored.

St. Maries scored two in the bottom of the seventh and had the bases loaded with two outs when Kevin Reese, on in relief for Thomas, coaxed a pop out.

The Lumberjacks won the regular-season series by taking two of three games from the Hawks, but Lakeland got the most important victory Saturday.

“These teams are so evenly matched that I bet if we played 20 games each of us would win 10,” Busch said.

St. Maries coach Jeff Andersen expected a tightly contested game, too.

“We thought coming in it might come down to this and it did,” Andersen said. “We’ve still got life in us. We’re down right now, but we’ve got to make sure we get our heads screwed on straight and come back and play hard Tuesday.

Thomas improved his record to 8-0. While not overpowering, he kept the Lumberjacks off balance and spotted his pitches well.

Reese, McMillen and Russell each had two hits and Dixon had a homer, while Duffey and Jason Bentcik had two hits apiece for St. Maries.

In the earlier games, Lakeland jumped on Priest River quickly in the first inning when McMillen hit a two-run homer and Reese followed with a solo homer for a 3-0 lead. Pitcher Mike Banks (5-0) went the distance, striking out eight while allowing just three hits.

Duffey and Kevin Moore combined on a three-hitter and five Lumberjacks collected two hits each as St. Maries handled Kellogg.

Priest River pitcher Dustin Wardrop tossed a one-hitter and Seth Madsen, Adam Collison and Rylan Wood each had two hits and two RBIs as the Spartans eliminated Kellogg.

The all-IML team was announced. McMillen was named the league’s most valuable player.

McMillen was joined on the team by pitchers Thomas, Banks and Eberlin; infielders Reese, Chase Williams of Lakeland, Jake Adams and Kyle Stevenson of St. Maries and Don Cypher of Timberlake; and outfielders Duffey, Rylan Wood of Priest River and Luke Smith of Kellogg.