SEASON OPENER: Badger baseball warms up at Orofino triple header

OROFINO — 3A Bonners Ferry basketball opened the season against the 2A Orofino on Friday, March 8, for a three-game contest, going 0-3. 

Bonners Ferry assistant coach Chad Carle said the triple header revealed the team's weaknesses of not being on the field prior to the season opener, as errors were common for Badger fielding. 

The Badger home field had not yet dried out, causing the team to practice indoors. Typically, the program is unable to practice on the diamond until after the season opener. 

Game 1: Orofino 8, BF 7

The game was scoreless in the first two innings. Bonners garnered seven hits, with junior Brody Rice going four-for-five. 

Senior pitcher Trey Bateman threw four innings, with sophomore Jack Woods stepping to the mound to finish the game. Woods was strong in the fifth and sixth innings, but by the seventh he faltered, walking three with the Manics scoring four runs. 

The Badgers scored three runs in the seventh inning but fell just short of victory by one run, 8-7. 

BF: 001 201 3—7

Orofino: 003 100 4—8

Game 2: Orofino 13, BF 3

Shaking off the close loss, the Badgers moved to game two In Game 2, the Badgers had an early lead, but by the third inning, the game was tied 3-all. From there the Maniacs scored 10 more runs and won 13-3. 

Junior Thomas Bateman pitched four innings. He gave up five hits, two walks, and hit one batter and one strikeout. 

“Overall he threw well for someone that just came back off of basketball state with only four days of practice,” Bonners Ferry assistant coach Chad Carle said. “We however could only muster two hits during the game.”

Jesse Fess pitched the fifth and sixth, giving up eight runs on one hit, four walks, and one hit batter. He earned one strikeout. 

“This game showed our weakness of not being on the field previous to this game, as we gave up multiple errors during the game causing quite a few runs to be scored on our mistakes,” Carle said. 

BF: 012 000—3

Orofino: 003 145—13

Game 3: Orofino 14, BF 0

The Badgers faced the Maniacs again Saturday, falling 14-0 and losing the series 0-3. 

Brody Rice threw two innings and gave up five runs, two hits, three walks and one hit batter. 

Gavin Rider came in to pitch the third and fourth innings and gave up four walks, four hits and struck out three. 

“Once again the game was riddled with multiple errors in key moments allowing a ton of unearned runs,” Carle said.

On a positive note, the weather for triple headers was perfect and allowed the boys to play under the lights Friday night, which is uncommon for the Badges.  

Badger starters Trey Bateman, Thomas Bateman, Brody Rice, Wyatt Smith and Ivan Cartwright only had four practices prior to the season opener because they had competed at the state championship basketball game. 

On Saturday, the Badgers were down to the Bateman cousins, due to a family wedding, with the team alone with only two returning starters from last season. 

On Wednesday, the Badgers played at Colville, a 1A Northeast league team from Washington.