Baseball competes at state for sixth straight year
Four Badger Baseball Players were selected as Intermountain League All-League Players this year. From left: Teigan Banning, Trey Bateman, Coach Tom Turpin, Bo Bateman and Blake Rice.
Courtesy photo
NAMPA — Badger baseball played hard at the 3A state tournament on May 19-20. Going 0-2 and losing to the eventual state champion Marsh Valley in the first game.
Marsh Valley was clearly the best team at the tournament and beat all their opponents by at least 10 runs in five innings each game, head coach Tom Turpin said.
The Badgers couldn’t beat the Eagles’ barrage of hits and lost 13-0 in the first game.
The Badgers went on and lost the second game, which was a loser-out game, in extra innings. The Badgers were clinging on to a 1-0 lead until Snake River scored with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, with the game tied at 1-1 with a runner on second, the Badger centerfielder lost the ball in the sun and the runner eventually scored for the 2-1 Snake River victory.
Trey Bateman pitched an incredible game striking out seven while walking only one batter and giving up only five hits, Turpin said. The Badger offense left 11 runners on base.
“It was an unfortunate way to end the game and season but that was our fourth extra inning loss this year including two other games that ended in the bottom of the last inning,” Turpin said.
The Badgers finished the season with a 13-13 record. This was the sixth state tournament the Badger baseball team qualified for in the last seven years, not including 2020 due to COVID-19.
The Badgers are losing three seniors to graduation, but will be returning 11 juniors to next year's program.
This year, the Badger baseball team had 27 kids playing which is most in recent memory and bodes well for the future of the program, Turpin said. The JV team had 19 games this year, which is an all-time high.
Badgers Teigan Banning, Trey Bateman, Bo Bateman and Blake Rice were also selected as Intermountain League All-League Players this year.
Sophomore Trey Bateman was selected as All-League Most Valuable Player this year. Since 2015, every year except 2020 due to COVID-19, a Bonners Ferry Badger has been recognized as the All-League MVP.
2015 — Steve Anzalone
2016 — Vincent Bennett
2017 — Co-MVPs — Jesse Dunham and Nick Sabin (both from BFHS)
2018 — Brady Bateman
2019 — Co-MVPs — Seth Bateman (BFHS) and Jack McDonald (Timberlake HS)
2020 — Season canceled due to COVID-19
2021 — Bo Bateman
2022 — Trey Bateman