Bonners Ferry Baseball
The Bonners Ferry High School baseball team at 2 p.m. Friday will take on Priest River during the first round of the 3A District 1 Tournament at Timberlake High School.
The winner of that game advances to the championships at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Badgers ended their regular season Saturday by splitting a doubleheader with Priest River. Bonners Ferry went 10-6 overall and 5-4 in the Intermountain League.
Against Priest River in the first game, Spartans pitcher Brian Nelson and Badger pitcher Connor Herdt had no intentions of letting anyone get a hit, let alone score.
But in the end, what many said was a classic pitching performance for both juniors, Priest River prevailed 2-1 in 8 innings. Nelson struck out 17 Badgers while allowing four hits. Herdt struck out 16 Spartans and gave up 6 hits.
The Badgers struck first, scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning when junior Greg Taggart walked and later scored on an RBI single from senior Ryan Merrifield.
In the top of the seventh, Priest River tied the game when Austin Sommer hit a one-out double and later scored on a single from Matt Collins.
In the top of the eighth, Nelson reached on a base on balls with two outs and advanced to third on an attempted pick-off move to first that went wide. He later scored on a single from Zack Miller.
In the second game, the Badgers bounced back to win 4-2 behind Taggart’s 3-hitter. He improved his record to 5-1.
The Badgers scored two runs in the bottom of the first when senior Jake Watt and junior Casey Nelson hit RBI singles to score senior A.J. Bennett, who walked earlier in the inning, and Watt. Priest River tied the game in the top of the fourth when Josh Reed singled to start the inning followed by Brian Nelson being walked. Both scored on Zack Miller’s 2-run single.
Bonners Ferry added two runs in the bottom of the sixth when Bennett and Herdt walked to start the inning. Taggart helped himself with an RBI single followed by Casey Nelson’s second RBI single of the game to put the Badgers up for good.
Ryan Merrifield and Casey Nelson finished the day with two hits each.
Seniors recognized for the final home game were Watt, Merrifield, Bennett, Chad Nordhagen, Kyle Nakagawa, Mike Oppenheimer and manager Kristina Turpin.
In other action, the Badgers split with the Timberlake Tigers on April 26 and lost to the Tigers three days later.
Bonners Ferry played virtually flawless baseball in the first game against Timberlake until the top of the seventh inning when Timberlake, down 7-2, rallied to score 9 runs to win 11-8.
Herdt had a no hitter going until the fourth inning. With Bonners Ferry up 5-0, Timberlake scored two runs in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 5-2.
Bonners Ferry responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning and another run in the sixth to take a 7-2 lead going into the final inning. Timberlake exploded for 9 runs on 6 hits in the inning to take the lead.
Herdt finished the game at the plate hitting for the cycle. He hit a first inning solo homerun, single in the second, triple in the third and a double in the fifth. In the bottom of the seventh, he added another double to go 5-for-5 with 4 RBIs and 12 total bases for the game.
Taggart, junior Aaron Hoisington and Watt each got two hits for the Badgers.
In the second game against Timberlake, the Badgers pounded the Tigers 13-3 in six innings. Taggart improved his pitching record to 4-1 allowing 3 runs on 8 hits, striking out 3 and not walking a batter.
Watt finished the game going 3-for-3, scoring three runs and getting 3 RBIs. Casey Nelson and Hoisington each had two of the Badgers’ 12 hits.
In the final match against Timberlake, the Tigers scored runs in every inning except the sixth to win 9–4 in a crucial league game. Timberlake Pitcher Marshall Barnhouse scattered 6 hits and struck out 10 Badgers while walking one.