Capaul delivers gem
Lake City High junior pitcher Alex Capaul kept reaching back and touching the ball wedged in his back pocket.
It’s almost as if he didn’t believe what had just happened.
The right-handed Capaul threw his first no-hitter Thursday – in a key 5-0 win over Coeur d’Alene – and the ball was destined for a special place at home.
Talk about timing, too. The win kept the Timberwolves within eye shot of Inland Empire League-leading Lewiston.
LC improved to 12-5 overall and 7-4 in league while CdA slipped to 9-7 and 5-6. Lewiston (16-2, 11-2) swept visiting Lakeland (3-12, 1-11) in other league action.
The Timberwolves play host to Lewiston in a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at noon.
Capaul (3-2) never allowed anything close to a hit. He had six strikeouts and coaxed eight groundouts. Four Vikings reached via three walks and a hit by pitch, and all four advanced to second.
The closest Capaul came to having to work out of a jam was in the second inning. After striking out the first batter, Capaul walked a batter and hit a Viking. But he got a flyout and a strikeout to end the inning.
“That was a heckuva effort and that’s a heckuva hitting ballclub,” LC coach Cory Bridges said of CdA. “He had a little bit of trouble early with his changeup, but then he got it going. The difference-maker was the changeup and he threw some beauties today. He threw a gem.”
CdA coach Brian Holgate tipped his hat to Capaul.
“We let one guy single-handedly beat us. That’s what I told my guys,” Holgate said. “We’ve seen him enough times that I don’t think he was any different today than any time the last two years. But he made some good pitches when he had to.”
Capaul said he relied mainly on two pitches – a changeup and fastball.
“The changeup was my out pitch,” Capaul said.
After Capaul got the Vikings in order in the top of the first, LC sophomore and leadoff hitter Trent Bridges wasted no time giving Capaul some support when he laced a first-pitch fastball over the fence in left-center field. It was Bridges’ first varsity homer.
It appeared it would be a 1-0 final until the sixth. After CdA starter Bryant Sampson coaxed a groundout from the first batter he faced, he walked back-to-back batters. Then Capaul helped himself with a well-struck run-scoring single for a 2-0 lead.
After getting the second out, Sampson appeared poised to get out of the jam. He had a 0-2 count when Brent Everson barely got a piece of the next pitch and chopped it in front of the mound. But Sampson threw the ball well over Andy Seaman at first base, allowing two runs to score.
Another error allowed LC’s final run.
Cory Bridges is looking forward to the challenge against Lewiston.
“If we sweep Lewiston, we’re tied and then we’ll let the (athletic directors) figure out how the hell they’ll decide that puppy,” Bridges said. “It’ll probably be a stupid coin flip.”
First, though, LC must do the improbable and sweep Lewiston. A split would most likely give the Bengals the league title and top seed to the 5A Region I tournament.
So CdA most likely knows its postseason destination – a loser-out opener at LC.
“It was going to be very difficult to control our own fate anyway,” Holgate said. “The first-round game is going to be in Coeur d’Alene. It’s going to be tough for Lewiston to lose that first seed. Whether we play here or at home, there’s really no home-field advantage.”
In other IEL action, Rob Roth tallied five RBIs on the day in Lewiston’s doubleheader sweep of Lakeland. Roth knocked a two-run homer and added an RBI single during a 12-2, five-inning win in the first game. Adam Carson and Brian Snyder combined on a one-hit shutout during the 10-0, five-inning second-game win.