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Badger Baseball sweeps Spartan series |
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April 20, 2016 |
by Tom Turpin
BFHS Varsity Baseball Head Coach
 The
Badger baseball team began defense of their 2015
3A Intermountain League title by sweeping the
Priest River Spartans Saturday at Bonners Ferry
High School. The wins improve their overall
record to 12-2, and 2-0 in league play.
GAME 1 - PRIEST RIVER 0,
BONNERS FERRY 2
Vince Bennett struck out 11, walked one, and did
not allow a runner past second base in the first
game for the Badgers. The game remained
scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when
Nick Sabin and Caleb Stockton were called upon
to drop down back-to-back suicide squeezes
giving the Badgers a 2-0 lead.
“Give credit to Coach Turpin for manufacturing
those runs,” Assistant Coach Chris Sabin said,
“Our bats were not working, it was late in the
game, and we needed to score.” Coach Turpin
said, “The credit belongs to Nick and Kaleb,
they are the ones that had to execute under the
pressure. It makes coaching much easier when you
have guys in your lineup you can trust to pull
that off.”
Coach Turpin was quick to compliment his defense
as well, “Vince pitched great, but our defense
played great behind him. The 5-4-3 double play
in the sixth inning was huge for us.” The
Badgers thwarted any momentum Priest River hoped
to gain when with one out and a runner on first,
a ground ball was hit to third baseman Seth
Bateman who fielded and fired it to second base
where Chris Sabin caught it and fired it to
first to complete the double play to end the
inning.
Priest River 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 3 1
Bonners Ferry 0 0 0 0
0 2 X 2 3 0
Badger hits: B. Bateman, Blackmore, N. Sabin
GAME 2 - PRIEST RIVER 3, BONNERS FERRY
13 (5 innings)
Priest River jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in
the top of the first inning, but the Badgers
came back early and often to secure the 13-3 win
in a five inning game due to the 10 run rule.
Junior pitcher Jesse Dunham improved his record
to 4-0 while striking out four. Jesse helped his
cause by picking off two runners, one off second
and one off first. “Jesse has one of the
quickest pickoff moves around, not just in our
league, but in the state," Assistant Coach Cal
Bateman said. “Everyone needs to be on their
toes when Jesse is on the mound with runners
on.”
After the Spartans scored three in the top of
the first, Bonners Ferry answered with a run in
their bottom half of the inning when Brady
Bateman walked and later scored on a fielder’s
choice. The Badgers erupted for five more runs
in the second inning on just two hits aided by
three walks and two hit batters. Caleb
Blackmore’s two-run double scored Chris Sabin
and Raul Rodriguez.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Badgers added a
run when Bennett reached first on an error by
the catcher and later scored on Nick Sabin’s RBI
single to right.
The Badgers didn’t stop there, erupting in the
bottom of the sixth for six runs on five hits.
The game was called when the 10 run rule came
into effect after Nick Sabin hit a two run
single to left.
Once again the Badgers played error free on
defense highlighted by their second double play
of the day, this time a 6-4-3 double play. Brady
Bateman handled a hard hit one hop ball,
flipping it to second into the quick hands of
Chris Sabin who easily made the throw to first
to nail the runner. “Double plays are fun to
watch and are real momentum changers. Our guys
can do it with the best of them,” said Coach
Turpin, “It was really good to get the league
wins, our hitting was a little flat in the first
game, but we were able to eke one out for Vince.
In the second game, our bats came alive and we
were able to finish them off.”
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