Badgers baseball wins 5th District Championship
Photo by DON COGGER IML League MVP Vince Bennett takes the mound against Timberlake Tuesday in the District Championship game. The Badgers now head to Ontario, Oregon next week for the state tournament.
Photo by DON COGGER Badger 2nd baseman makes a play on a Timberlake runner Tuesday.
The Badgers baseball team won their 5th District Championship Tuesday, with a win against Timberlake, 9-2.
“After the semi-final game, a nail-biter against Priest River, we were really hoping to come out with a little more energy, and I think we did,” said head coach Tom Turpin. “Having Vince Bennett on the mound helped. He kept them off balance.”
The Badgers only managed three hits on the game, but benefited from spotty pitching and a few miscues in the field by Timberlake.
“Timberlake’s pitching kind of let them down,” Turpin said. “We had eight guys that reached base on walks, and having five erors to go along with that usually spells disaster for a team. But the Badgers have worked hard all year, and deserve a district championship to go along with their league title. It’s only the second time in Badger history they’ve done that.” The Badgers now head to Ontario, Oregon for the 3A State Tournament. Despite the long layoff, Turpin believes his team will be ready to go.
“We have a lot of work to do still,” he said. “We have to swing the bat, put the leather on the ball. As great of a season as they’ve had, they need to realize the record means nothing. Every team is 0-0 from here on out. Most of these guys had a taste of state play last year, got a taste of what it’s like, so hopefully the jitters will be out of them when they step on the field.”
Game summaries provided by Head Coach Tom Turpin
The Bonners Ferry Badger baseball program claimed its fifth District Championship and are headed back to the Idaho 3A State tournament next week in Ontario, Or.
Game 1 – Priest River 2, Bonners Ferry 3
With sophomore Brady Bateman hitting a lead-off single to start the bottom of the seventh inning, Badger senior Caleb Gering hit a two out blooper behind the second baseman to score Bateman for the walk off win in the semifinal game against the Spartans.
Bonners Ferry started the scoring off in the first inning when Bateman hit a double off the left field fence and Jesse Dunham walked. Bateman later scored on Gering’s RBI single to center and Dunham scored on a RBI single from Caleb Blackmore.
Priest River tied the game in the top of the fourth inning after a hit batter reached and a single from the nine hitter. Bonners Ferry committed two errors on the next batter and which scored a run and a sacrifice fly added another. Priest River threatened the entire game leaving 15 runners left on base. With no outs in the fifth inning, the Spartans had a runner on second and third. Relief pitcher Brady Bateman came in to record a strike out but then walked the bases loaded. He then got a second strike out and the next batter grounded out to the second baseman to record the final out in the inning with no runs being scored.
Priest River again threatened in the top of the seventh getting the first two batters on with back to back singles. But, the Badgers were able to get out of the inning again after the next batter struck out and the following two batters recorded outs.
With the lead-off batter Bateman reaching on a single to start the bottom of the seventh inning, Vince Bennett advanced him to second with a ground out to the first baseman. Dunham popped out to the first baseman to record the second out and then on a full count, two out pitch from the Spartan pitcher, Gering hit the game winning single to score Bateman.
DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – Timberlake 2, Bonners Ferry 9
The Bonners Ferry Badger baseball team won its 5th District title in school history Tuesday beating the Timberlake Tigers 9-2 in Bonners Ferry.
League MVP and Badger Vince Bennett pitched a complete game four hitter recording 4 strike outs and walking one in the 9 – 2 win. The win improves his record to 8 – 0 on the season.
The Tigers started the scoring off in the top of the first inning when the lead off hitter Derek Galloway hit a single to left and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Jarrett Plunkett. The Badgers responded in their half of the first scoring two runs on one hit and two Timberlake errors.
Bonners Ferry added a run in the bottom of the second inning after Kaleb Stockton reached on a walk and later scored on a RBI ground out from Brady Bateman. The Badgers added two runs in the fourth inning to make the score 5 – 1 when Brady Bateman hit a triple to right field scoring Chris Sabin which reached earlier on a single to left. As Bateman was attempting to reach third the ball sailed over the third baseman and out of bounds allowing him to score.
The Badgers added a lone run in the bottom of the fifth inning after Gering reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch to make the 6 – 1. Timberlake added a run in the top of the sixth inning when Seth Villanpondo reached on a single and later scored on a RBI ground out.
Bonners Ferry came up with three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth when Raul Rodriguez, Chris Sabin and Brady Bateman all walked to load the bases with none out. After a wild pitch scored Rodriguez, Bennett hit a sacrifice fly to left center to score Sabin. Bateman later scored on another wild pitch to make the final score 9 – 2.
Badger hits: Brady Bateman – 3B, Bennett, Chris Sabin
Bonners Ferry will play the South Fremont Cougars from District VI at noon (PST) at the 3A State Tournament in Ontario, Oregon on Thursday, May 19th.
BADGERS GET 4 ON ALL LEAGUE TEAM
Senior Vince Bennett was selected as the Intermountain League Most Valuable Player for 2016 by the IML coaches.
Bennett had an 8 – 0 pitching record with a 1.04 ERA. He struck out 66 batters and walked only 17. He held batters to a .192 batting average. Bennett also batted .396 with 29 runs scored, 20 RBI, 4 triples and a double. He only struck out 4 times in 91 at bats.
Senior Caleb Gering played nearly flawlessly at first base and hit .347 on the year.
He also had a .484 on base percentage, 30 runs scored, 7 doubles, 1 triple and 3 home runs. He led the team with 29 RBI
Senior Caleb Blackmore went 2 – 0 in league pitching with a 2.80 ERA. He also batted .392 with a .500 on base percentage and only struck out 5 times all year.
Junior Jesse Dunham went 6 – 0 pitching this year with a 1.97 ERA and .222 batting average for opposing players. He struck out 48 batters and allowed 25 walks. At the plate, he batted .351 with a .484 on base percentage hitting 6 doubles, 3 triples and 25 RBI.