Badgers sweep past Spartans in doubleheader
The Badgers traveled to Spartan country last Saturday and came away with two big Intermountain league wins. The wins put the Badger's record 16-5 and 8-1 in league.
Bonners Ferry - 5
Priest River - 3
The first game was a classic pitcher's dual between Badger Ross Patterson and Spartan Sophomore Brian Nelson. Both pitcher's combined for 23 strikeouts and only 9 hits in the game.
The Badgers struck for three runs in the top of the first inning when Josh Hawks reached base on an error from the third baseman. Chris James hit a double to left center and Chris Nelson hit a groundout scoring Hawks. Patterson then hit a single up the middle scoring both James and Nelson. In the Spartan half of the first, Dan Lucas reached on a bloop single to short center and later scored on Zach Clow's single.
In the sixth inning, both Chris James and Josh Gatchell reached base on walks and scored when Kenny Swift hit a 2-run single. With Bonners Ferry leading 5-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, Priest River scored 2 runs when Brian Nelson hit a single and stole second. Clow got his third hit of the game scoring Nelson. Clow later scored on a groundout from Aaron Harty. Kyle Lovell ended the game when he grounded out to shortstop.
Bonners Ferry
3 0 0 0 0 2 0 5 4 0
Priest River
1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 5 1
Patterson and Nelson, Casey; Nelson and Lovell; WP - Patterson (6-1) LP - Nelson (4-1) Hits BF: James, Patterson, Swift, Merrifield; PR: Lucas, Nelson, Clow 3; 2B - James
Bonners Ferry - 11
Priest River - 3
Badger Pitcher Chris James struck out 13 and walked only one as the Badgers completed the doubleheader sweep with a 11-3 win over the Spartans.
Bonners Ferry started off strong again scoring 3 runs in both the first and second innings. Junior AJ Bennett hit a single to right to start the game and Josh Hawks reached on a base on balls. Chris James hit his second double of the day scoring both Bennett and Hawks. James later scored when Josh Gatchell hit a sacrifice fly to left field. In the second inning, Junior Ryan Merrifield and Josh Hawks hit singles and James hit a 2-run single. James later scored on a RBI single by Chris Nelson. In the bottom of the third, Spartan Brian Nelson hit a single and later scored when Dustin Lehman hit a RBI single.
The Badgers added another run in the fourth after Bennett walked and Josh Hawks hit his second single of the game. Bennett later scored on an error by the pitcher.
Bonners Ferry added three more runs in the top of the fifth to take a 10-1 lead when Kenny Swift started the inning off with a single and Bennett and Hawks walked. Chris James scored Swift and Bennett with his third hit of the game. Nelson hit a RBI single scoring James. In the bottom of the fifth, Spartan Brian Nelson scored on a RBI single from Aaron Harty. The Badgers added one more run in the sixth when Casey Nelson scored after AJ Bennett hit a RBI single. Priest River scored their final run in the seventh when Josh Reed hit an in the park home run to deep center.
Bonners Ferry
3 3 0 1 3 1 0 11 15 0
Priest River
0 0 1 0 1 0 1 3 9 3
James and Patterson; Encinas, Kruse (3), Lovell (6); WP - James 3-2, LP - Encinas. Hits: BF - Bennett 2, Hawks 2, James 3, Nelson 3, Patterson 2, Swift, Merrifield, Taggart; PR - Lucas, Reed 2, Nelson, Lehman 2, Harty 2, Lovell. 2B - James, Reed HR - Reed
The Badgers finish their regular season tomorrow when they take on the St. Maries Lumberjacks at home in a doubleheader at 2 p.m. This is also senior day and they will be honored between games.