PREP BASEBALL: Coeur d'Alene sweeps Lake City, still on path for top seed

COEUR d’ALENE — The path to the postseason is a little clearer for the Coeur d’Alene baseball team. 

But there’s still work to be done. 

Coeur d’Alene scored the go-ahead run on an error with one out in the top of the fifth inning of the second game as the Vikings swept the Lake City Timberwolves 9-1 and 11-7 in a 6A Inland Empire League doubleheader on senior day at Lake City High on Saturday. 

Coeur d’Alene (7-5, 4-1 6A IEL) hosts Lake City (4-14, 0-6) on Tuesday in a doubleheader. The Vikings can clinch the top seed to districts with a sweep of the Timberwolves, as well as a win over Post Falls (8-8, 5-2) on Wednesday in the completion of a game suspended due to darkness with the score tied 12-12 after six innings on April 7. 

“We’ve got to take care of business on Tuesday,” Coeur d’Alene coach Brandon Williams said.  

In the first game, Coeur d’Alene senior Bam Fenter struck out nine over six innings, allowing two hits. He walked two batters and hit four. Senior Seth Stevens had two hits and two RBIs in the opener. 

“Bam gave up two hits and really did his thing on the mound,” Williams said. “We had some really big hits that propelled us in that one.” 

Junior Kasen Noffke had both Lake City hits in the opener. 

Sophomore Tommy Pickens hit a two-run single in the top of the sixth inning for Coeur d’Alene. 

Brennan Jensen went 4 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored in the second game for Lake City. 

“We were hitting the ball a little better and catching up to the fastball,” Lake City coach Gil Pierce said. “We had some errors that let them back into the game. We just need to get back to work fixing the little things. We competed, but just need to bring it all together.” 

“I’m proud of my boys for battling back and not giving in,” Williams said. “Right now, they’re working as one unit, which is awesome to see as a coach.” 

FIRST GAME 

Coeur d’Alene    210    100    5    —    9    8    2 

Lake City    010    000    0    —    1    2    4 

Bam Fenter, JD Davenport (7) and Hunter Chambers; Evan Huss, Noah Childress (7) and Logan Strimback. 

HITS: Cd’A — Foulk, Fenter 2, Cook 2, Helms, Stevens 2. LC — Noffke 2. 2B — Helms, Stevens. 

SECOND GAME 

Coeur d’Alene    005    024    0    —    11    14    2 

Lake City    050    100    1    —    7    13    3 

Dylan Cook, Tyler Kernkamp (7) and Colten Nordman; Maverick Lanigan, Aven Adams (5) and Ethan Stach. 

HITS: Cd’A — Foulk 3, Fenter, Cook 2, Bishop, Helms, Larson 3, Pickens 2. LC — Strimback, MacNiven 2, Jensen 4, Slife, Adams, Noffke 2, Childress, Stach. 2B — Cook, Foulk 2.  

Lewiston 14-5 

Lakeland 5-17 

LEWISTON — Senior Jake Larcher and sophomore Luke Knight drove in five runs each in the second game for the Hawks, who bounced back to get the 5A Inland Empire League split with the Bengals at Church Field. 

Lakeland (8-7, 4-4 5A IEL) is third in the league, trailing second-place Lewiston (14-7, 5-5) and leader Sandpoint (12-2, 7-1) with two weeks remaining in the regular season. Sandpoint swept Moscow (3-9, 0-6) 10-0 and 5-3 on Saturday.

Junior Parker Byrd also had two hits and three RBIs in the second game for Lakeland. 

In the first game, Guy Krasselt had two hits and four RBIs for the Bengals. 

Lakeland senior Cash Lund had two RBIs in the opener. 

Lakeland hosts Post Falls in a single game on Tuesday. 

FIRST GAME 

Lakeland    100    013    0    —    5    6    4 

Lewiston    032    036    x    —    14    13    2 

Landon Puzio, Luke Knight (6) and Nate Bevacqua; Grady Peterson, Karston Eilers (5), Carson Henson (6) and Peyton Bonebrake. 

HITS: LL — Tamagni 2, Hostetler, Smith, Avriett, Lund. Lew — Krasselt 2, Robbins 3, Collins, Peterson, McFee 2, Casey, Henson 2. 2B — Tamagni, McFee, Collins.  

SECOND GAME 

Lakeland    201    272    3    —    17    22    0 

Lewiston    200    300    0    —    5    6    1 

Jace Taylor, Jake Larcher (6) and Nate Bevacqua; Zac Bambacigno, Zavier McFee (4), Jaxon Holthaus (5), Landon Ortiz (5) and Peyton Bonebrake. 

HITS: LL — Tamagni 3, Larcher 4, Taylor, Smith, Knight 3, Puzio, Avriett 4, Lund 2, Byrd 2. Lew — Krasselt, Robbins, Bonebrake, Richardson, Estlund, Stamper. 2B — Taylor, Byrd, Larcher, Avriett, Tamagni, Robbins. 3B — Knight.

Timberlake 9 

Orofino 4 

SPIRIT LAKE — Juniors Ryker Brennan and Nate Beardsall had three RBIs each for the Tigers in a nonleague win over the Maniacs at John Shaffer Field. 

“We got a bit of a gut check yesterday,” said Timberlake coach Bryce Johnson, whose team fell at Bonners Ferry 11-6 in its Intermountain League opener on Friday. “We didn’t have much time to dwell on it. Orofino is really good, and I couldn’t be more proud of our resiliency. We responded and our guys showed up to play today. We got back to playing small ball and didn’t let the errors blow up into a big inning.” 

Brennan singled to score senior Hunter Horn to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the second inning. Beardsall followed three batters later with a two-run single to give Timberlake a 6-3 lead.  

Timberlake (9-8) hosts St. Maries in a doubleheader on Tuesday. 

Orofino is 14-2. 

Orofino        300    000    1    —    4    8    3 

Timberlake    240    021    x    —    9    10    4 

Quinton Naranjo, Nick Bonner (3) and Lane Turcott; Nate Beardsall, Ryker Brennan (5) and Gage Haines. 

HITS: Oro — Barlow, Tondevold, Naranjo, Bonner, Gamble 3, Turcott. TL — Brennan 2, Wylie, Beardsall 2, Van Tassel, Haines, Horn, Shively 2. 2B — Barlow. 

Grangeville 10-6 

St. Maries 7-15

LEWISTON — Daniel Jensen struck out 13 and went 5 for 5 with four runs scored and three RBIs in the second game for the Lumberjacks in a Central Idaho League split with the Bulldogs at Airport Park. 

Sawyer Nantell and Will Durham also had three RBIs in the second game for St. Maries (3-7, 3-6 CIL). 

Kolton Heitzman had three hits and three RBIs in the first game for Grangeville (4-11, 1-6). 

St. Maries travels to Timberlake on Tuesday for a doubleheader. 

FIRST GAME 

St. Maries    000    312    1    —    7    10    0 

Grangeville    101    134    x    —    10    10    1 

Will Durham, Peyton Lingo (5) and Santana Jensen; Trayven Sickels, Colt Schoo (7) and Troy Long. 

HITS: SM — D. Jensen, Lingo, Durham 2, Nantell, Baker, A. Stewart 2, K. Brusseau, W. Stewart. Grange — Stark, Whitesides, Sickels 3, Heitzman 3, Granger, Barger. 2B — Durham. 2B — Heitzman 2, Sickels. 

SECOND GAME 

St. Maries    113    433    0    —    15    18    10 

Grangeville    005    100    0    —    6    2    3 

Daniel Jensen, Peyton Lingo (7) and Amado Stewart; Colt Schoo, Luke Stark (6) and Josh Whitesides. 

HITS: SM — Lingo 2, D. Jensen 5, Nantell 3, Durham 3, Baker 2, W. Stewart, A. Stewart 2. Grange — Long, Sickels. 2B — D. Jensen, A. Stewart, Long. 3B — Durham.  

    MARK NELKE/Press Lake City senior center fielder Andy Everson nearly makes a diving catch in the first game Saturday vs. Coeur d'Alene, but the ball came loose when Everson hit the ground.