Spring snow can’t keep Badger baseball down

Thirty-three participants have come out for Badger baseball, resulting in the program expanding to three teams. 

Assistant Coach Chad Carle said the third team (C-team) will mainly be a freshman squad and its game schedule will consist of playing other freshman teams, and smaller school’s JV teams, rather than 3A Intermountain League opponent Timberlake. 

Badger JV and C-team will play Troy, Mont., and other small schools. 

“Right now we have four [C-team] games scheduled,” Carle said, adding that BFHS Athletic Director Curt Bayer is working to schedule more games. 

Last season, 19 kids were on the JV squad, and with only nine players allowed on the field at a time, the large turnout negatively impacted playing time for many athletes. 

“We want kids to play, not sit on the bench,” Carle said. 

Carle said that by having a third squad, more participants will be able to play, which will be a better investment in the program in the long run.

Since Timberlake is the sole opponent in the 3A IML, Bonners Ferry season is a majority of non-league games. 

Last season the Badgers graduated seven seniors. This year the program only has three seniors, six juniors, eight sophomores and 16 freshmen. 

Bonners Ferry opened their season at Orofino with a triple-header March 8-9. This season’s schedule includes Washington schools, 1A Northeast League Colville and North West Central of the 2A/3A/4A Greater Spokane League. 

Carle said the difficulty with scheduling games with many eastern Washington schools is they only have two non-league games available a season since their leagues are so big and must play each league opponent twice. 

During the first week of practice, Wednesday, Feb. 28, was a snow day, causing the baseball team and all spring sports to miss practice. The day before, Carle had outfielders catching pop flies on the baseball field and football field under the lights, but the snow kept the team inside. 

“What kills us is being in the gym. Snow storms keep us indoors,” he said. 

Baseball splits time in the gym and mezzanine with the softball team. The gym is used for fielding practice, with the upstairs used for batting practice. 

With weather conditions as they are, baseball always starts its season in the south, where the fields have dried out.

Carle said that these games are the first time the team touches grass in the season; by mid-season, the program has historically remained competitive against opponents. Unlike other teams, most Bonners Ferry baseball players don’t play summer ball, instead, the kids go to work on their family farm or business. That said, he added that the program has been very successful and qualified for state six of the past nine years, not including 2020 due to COVID-19. 

The Badgers won the state championship in 2018. 

“Two to three kids play summer ball which adds up to two 10 to 15 games and 40 or so additional at bats,” he said. 

The league champion for 3A IML is decided by a best-of-two game. District champion is decided by a best-of-three contest, with the winner receiving the single berth to state. 

Last season the Badgers went 17-8 and won the two-team Intermountain League against Timberlake (13-14) winning four or five games. Unfortunately, the story changed in districts.

In Game 1, Timberlake won 8-6. Trey Bateman struck out seven and walked none in six innings for Bonners Ferry, and also doubled in a pair of runs in the seventh to pull the Badgers within three.

The Badgers were errorless and went on to win Game 2 scoring eight runs in the second inning and taking the win 13-3. The signal state berth all came down to Game Three. The Badgers were within reach of the district title and the berth to state, but scoreless fourth, fifth, and sixth innings didn’t play in their favor. The Badgers batters had hits, but the many pop flies found Tiger mitts.

The Badgers had two outs with runners on first and second when Timberlake won by strikeout.

Now a senior, Trey Bateman, two-time league MVP, has returned to Badger Baseball. Since 2015, every year except 2020 due to COVID-19, a Bonners Ferry Badger has been recognized as the All-League MVP.

“Trey Bateman continued the dominance of Badger MVP's in the IML dating back to 2015 with eight straight years of Badger MVPs. He also won this prestigious award last year and continued to dominate both at the plate, on the mound and in the field. I am looking forward to his senior year,” Bonners Ferry head coach Tom Turpin previously said. 

    Bonners Ferry head baseball coach Tom Turpin runs the pitching machine at practice.