Badgers score big to win tournament at home
—Photo by ELAINE SANDMAN<br>During the baseball tourney last weekend between Bonners Ferry, Timberlake and Priest River, the Badgers scored the overall win on their home turf.
The Bonners Ferry Badger Baseball team took to the field this weekend priming themselves for their upcoming league games. They did just that winning the second annual Badger invitational tournament and improving their record to 7-3.
Timberlake - 3
Bonners Ferry - 13
Josh Gatchell won his fourth game of the season (4-1) holding the Tigers to just 4 hits as the Badger bats pounded out 13 runs on 12 hits.
AJ Bennett started off the game with a walk in the first inning and later scored on Chris James' ground out to second. In the second inning, the Badgers added another run when Matt Pluid hit a sacrifice fly to score Josh Gatchell. With the Badgers leading 2-0, Timberlake came up in their half of the third knotting the score 2-2 when Cody Perez walked and later scored on Noel Gonzales' RBI double. Gonzales then scored on a past ball.
In the fifth inning, the Badgers erupted for 8 runs on 6 hits. Matt Pluid started off the inning with a walk and later scored on a RBI single by Ross Patterson. Jake Watt reached base on an error by Timberlake's Josh Eastin and AJ Bennett hit an RBI single scoring Patterson. Josh Hawks came up big with the first of 2 doubles in the game scoring Watt and Bennett and Hawks later scored Chris Nelsons' double. After Josh Gatchell was hit by a pitch, Kenny Swift knocked in Nelson. Matt Pluid got a 2 RBI single in the inning.
The Badgers added a run in the 6th inning when Hawks hit a double and scored when Mitch Fortune hit an RBI ground out to second. In the 7th, Bonners Ferry scored 2 more runs when Kody Swift reached on an error and Greg Taggart walked. Ryan Merrifield hit a 2 RBI single scoring both Swift and Taggart.
Hawks had 4 hits including 2 doubles and 2 RBI and Matt Pluid had 3 RBI in the game.
Potlatch - 0
Bonners Ferry - 5
Bonners Ferry avenged an earlier loss in the season to the Loggers winning 5-0 in their second game of the tournament. Senior pitcher Chris James (1-1) struck out 12 and walked 4 giving up only 3 hits to Potlatch.
The Badgers scored in the first inning when Chris James hit a single and scored on Josh Gatchell's RBI single. They added another run in the second when Matt Pluid reached on an error and later scored on Casey Nelsons' RBI single.
In the third inning, the Badgers got two straight hits to start the inning off when Josh Hawks hit a double to left center and Chris James hit a single up the middle. Josh Gatchell came up and scored Hawks and Ross Patterson scored James on a ground out to the shortstop.
The Badgers added another run in the sixth when Patterson walked and scored on Kenny Swifts' double to right center. Chris James had two hits and two runs scored and Josh Hawks and Kenny Swift each had a double in the game. Josh Gatchell had 2 RBI.
Bonners Ferry - 7
Priest River - 3
Both Bonners Ferry and Priest River entered the contest winning both their games. The winner would not only win the tournament but would beat their league opponent. Senior Ross Patterson (2-0) pitched a great game holding the Spartans to 6 hits, striking out 8 and walking four.
The Badgers started off the scoring in the second inning when Josh Gatchell hit a single. Patterson scored Gatchell when he hit a hard ground ball to the Spartans first baseman who committed an error. Patterson later scored when Kenny Swift hit a ground out to the second baseman. In the bottom of the second, Priest River came back with a run when Jake Christman started the inning off with a single and later scored when Dustin Lehman hit an RBI single.
The Badgers extended the lead in the top of the fourth when Matt Pluid hit a single. Kenny Swift came up next reaching base on an error and Ryan Merrifield scored Pluid on a ground out to the shortstop.
In the top of the fifth inning, Bonners Ferry added two more runs when Josh Hawks started the inning off with a walk and later scored when Chris Nelson hit a RBI single up the middle. Nelson later scored when Matt Pluid hit a RBI single. The Badgers added runs in the sixth and seventh innings with Chris James hitting and RBI double to left scoring Hawks and Gatchell scoring in the seventh.
Priest River came back in the bottom of the seventh when Dustin Lehman singled to start off the inning and Matt Evans walked. Dan Lucas scored both Lehman and Evans on an error by the Badger second baseman Zach Maas.
With the score 7-3 in favor of the Badgers and runners on first and second, Ross Patterson came up big striking out the last two batters to end the game.
The Badgers went 3-0 in the tournament combining for 28 hits and 25 runs. Chris James had 6 hits with 3 doubles and Josh Hawks had 5 hits including 3 doubles. Matt Pluid had 4 hits and 5 RBI in the tournament.
The Badgers played their first league game on Tuesday at home against Priest River, and will host Timberlake at home on Saturday for a double header beginning at 11 a.m.