GSL baseball: Tigers rally twice, beat Highlanders 6-3

On a day with weather made for baseball, Lewis and Clark twice came from behind and beat Shadle Park 6-3 in nine innings Tuesday in a Greater Spokane League showdown at Avista Stadium.

The Tigers (7-5 GSL) came back and scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game. Shadle Park’s Zaq Munson singled in Logan Kurucz in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead, but LC’s Connor Eakin scored on a throwing error in the top of the seventh to force extra innings.

The Tigers finished off the win in the ninth inning when Camden Bendickson singled to score Camryn Schon. A couple of batters later, Cal Webb smashed the ball over the left fielder to score both Bendickson and Cole Beemer.

“I am proud of them for continuing to play,” LC coach Steve Bennett said. “When the other team has the momentum, it’s easy to just go through the motions. We just kept playing.”

The Highlanders (6-6 GSL) played nearly the entire game behind the arm of Matt Keenan. Shadle Park coach Ron Brooks said he may have left his senior in a bit too long as Keenan took the loss.

“He’s a great competitor,” Brooks said of Keenan. “He wanted the ball, but he was on a short rope.”

The Highlanders routinely ended early innings with double plays, but the Tiger bats came to life when the team needed them the most.

“LC is a very competitive offensive team,” Brooks said. “It just comes down to timely hitting.”

Dalen Hainline got the scoring going early as he smashed an Ethan LaValley pitch to right center in the bottom of the first inning to score Jahden Nguyen and Kurucz, but Hainline was caught trying to stretch the double into a triple.

Keenan kept the Tiger batters quiet until they scored in the sixth inning and again in the seventh.

Bennett sent out Eakin to pitch the last three innings and he ended up getting the win.

“I feel great,” Eakin said after the win. “We want to get to the playoffs. We are going to get there.”

The game pitted two teams trying to stay up with a logjam atop the league.

“Every win is precious,” Bennett said. “We are scratching and clawing to get every game we can.”