Lumberjacks ride ‘Ryno’
He’s affectionately called “Ryno,” but he’s actually a horse.
The St. Maries High baseball team rode the elastic right arm of senior Ryne Eberlin to a 6-2 win over American Falls in a State 3A tournament opener Thursday at Treasure Valley Community College’s Elks Memorial Field at Ontario, Ore.
Eberlin threw a season-high 137 pitches, striking out 11 and limiting District V champ American Falls to four hits.
Intermountain League and District I runner-up St. Maries (15-9) will face Filer (20-6) in the semifinals today at 3 PDT. Filer beat Weiser 13-2 in five innings.
IML and District I champ Priest River, making its first trip to state, dropped a 4-0 opener to Sugar-Salem. PR will meet either South Fremont or Middleton in a loser-out game today.
St. Maries 6, American Falls 4: Eberlin couldn’t feel his arm afterward.
He had to work out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning in which he walked three. He finished with a season-high eight walks.
“I was running out of gas,” Eberlin admitted. “I can’t feel my arm now. It’s sore. But it’s a good feeling, though. I’ve been to state twice. We got second my freshman year. This is by far the best team camaraderie that we’ve had. We all love each other. We’re not down here to mess around. We’re down here to win some games.”
St. Maries coach Chad Ripke wasn’t about to pull Eberlin – not after it nearly backfired on him during the district tourney. Ripke was trying to save his ace for more innings later in the district tourney, but the Lumberjacks lost their opener after Eberlin was lifted in the sixth.
St. Maries fought back to win back-to-back loser-out games to earn its state berth.
The Beavers (15-5) brought the tying run up twice in the seventh, but Eberlin managed to coax a foul out and an infield pop to secure the win.
It was Eberlin’s season high for pitches by 23.
“That’s just guts right there,” Ripke said. “You either have it or you don’t. He’s just a gamer. I can’t say much more about him.”
The win guarantees St. Maries will play for no less than third on Saturday. Eberlin expects to pitch.
“I want the ball. I want to throw,” he said. “I did it at district.”
With one out in the seventh, Ripke went out to talk to Eberlin.
“He just told me to bear down and think about all the hard work I’ve put into baseball,” Eberlin said of the chat. “I just zoned in.”
St. Maries didn’t pound the ball at the plate, but the Lumberjacks took advantage of five Beavers errors and manufactured some runs.
Travis Christensen of the Lumberjacks reached on an error in the first and advanced to third when Beavers pitcher Ryan Udy’s pickoff attempt sailed well over the first baseman’s head. Eberlin plated his teammate on a groundout moments later.
St. Maries gave Eberlin all the runs he’d need in the third, extending the lead to 4-0. The Lumberjacks loaded the bases on back-to-back walks and an error. The first run scored when Christensen hit into a fielder’s choice. Eberlin followed with an RBI single, and the third run scored on a groundout by Tucker Baker.
St. Maries added single runs in the fourth and sixth on run-scoring singles by Logan Sheldon and Christensen.
Sugar-Salem 4, Priest River 0: Also at TVCC, the Spartans (20-4) managed just three hits in a loss to the Diggers (16-7). Stephen Gleese (5-3) of the Spartans threw a complete-game six-hitter, surrendering three runs in the fourth.
State 5A
Highland 11, Lewiston 7: Bracken Howerton pitched stellar relief and had three hits to lead the Rams (16-9) of Pocatello past the Bengals (16-8) in an opener at Borah High. Howerton entered in the second and blanked Lewiston for the last five innings. John Rohde, Cody Hill, Kyle Miller and Brad Neumayer had two hits apiece for the Bengals, who play a loser-out game today against either Eagle or Centennial.