Post Falls battles back for 3rd place

BOISE — No comeback was necessary this time.

The Post Falls High baseball team left no doubt on Saturday.

The Trojans jumped on top early, and used three big innings to bury the Lewiston Bengals 18-4 in the third-place game of the state 5A baseball tournament at Capital High.

Post Falls (17-12), boasting nine seniors, brought home its first trophy from state since 2005, when the Trojans finished second in 4A. Post Falls was at state for the first time since 2006, also in 4A.

“It was pretty amazing, how they bounced back,” said Post Falls coach Mick Zeller, whose team lost 10-8 in the semifinals Friday to Timberline of Boise. “I gave them that speech, not to let that game affect this game.”

Apparently, it didn’t.

Post Falls scored four runs in the top of the first inning, led 6-0 after three, tacked on five runs in the fifth and pulled away with seven in the seventh.

“We came to play,” Zeller said.

Quin Bennett went 3 for 4 with three RBIs, including a solo home run in the seventh inning. He also threw an 83-pitch complete game.

Leadoff man Nate Buer was 3 for 3 with three doubles, three runs and two RBIs.

“He’s just been amazing this whole tournament,” Zeller said.

No. 2 hitter Chase Cripps was 3 for 4 and drove in four runs.

Jake Pfennigs went 3 for 5 a solo homer in the third. He drove in three runs and scored three.

Brock Zeller was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

In the first inning, Jacob Rutherford hit an RBI double, and Pfennigs and Bennett added RBI singles.

Buer and Cripps delivered back-to-back two-run doubles in the fifth, and Brock Zeller had a two-run single in the seventh.

Post Falls took five of six meetings from Lewiston this year, the only setback a loss at home to the Bengals in the Region 1 championship game.

Mick Zeller, who coached Post Falls at state in 2005 and ’06, said he thought at the beginning of the season he had a team that could contend for a state berth, even if the Trojans had little track record to suggest that.

“I was a little worried, because we lost a little offense and a littlle pitching,” Zeller said. “We had pitching, and it definitely got us where we needed to go. We definitely hit the ball better than I thought, and our defense, for the most part, was pretty good.

“Even against good pitching (last year), we’d get one hit or two hits. And this year, we’d scrap for five or six runs. We were better offensively than I thought we’d be; that was a pleasant surprise.”

Kyle Van Boeyen, who won the opener for Lewiston on Thursday, hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the Bengals (14-14).

Post Falls 411 050 7 — 18 18 2

Lewiston 000 210 1 — 4 5 1

Quin Bennett and Nate Buer; Connor Stamper, George Lopez (2), Tyson Wallace (7), No. 11 (7) and Broden Ruddell. W — Bennett (4-3). L — Stamper.

HITS: PF — Buer 3, Cripps 3, Rutherford, Zeller 2, Pfennigs 3, Bennett 3, Fleming 2, Guy. Lew — Wallace 2, Powell, Van Boeyen, Ruddell. 2B — Buer 3, Cripps 3, Fleming, Rutherford. HR — Bennett (4), Pfennigs (1), Van Boeyen.

Payette 13

Timberlake 7

ONTARIO, Ore. — Sophomore Zach Larsen hit a bases-clearing triple in the fourth inning for the Tigers in a loss to the Pirates in the state 3A consolation game at Treasure Valley Community College.

“On Day 3 of a state tournament, you’ve got to get a little creative with the lineups, so we put Zach behind the plate,” second-year Timberlake coach Cameron Knigge said. “He did a phenomenal job and really earned his varsity stripes today.

Timberlake, the District 1 runner-up finished 15-9. Payette, the District 3 runner-up, finished 24-4.

“I was proud of how we played,” Knigge said. “We had a couple of mental errors in the second inning that led to some extra runs. Payette’s a good hitting team. We fought the entire time and it was almost as much as you can ask out of a group of kids.”

Payette 070 150 0 — 13 16 2

Timberlake 100 310 2 — 7 11 1

Bryce Marshall, Mason Rynearson (5) and Austin Stricker; Kobe Harris, Gage Benefield (5) and Zach Larsen. W — Marshall. L — Harris.

HITS: Pay — Gerdes, Stricker 2, Rynearson 2, Marshall 3, Walker, Lopez, Manery 2, Bolin, Robriguez, Manzo 2. TL — Powell, J. McDonald 2, Villanpando 3, Smith, L. McDonald, Privitt, Larsen 2. 2B — Stricker, Manzo, L. McDonald, Villanpando. 3B — Rynearson, Larsen.