For the week of July 24 - 30, 2002

WR Legion rallies past Bear Lake 6-5

Wood River (31-17) hosts Buhl today

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Walking a tightrope, righty Tyler Thiede flirted with disaster and ended up conquering bear—with a little help from his defense—on Monday during a Wood River American Legion baseball game in Hailey.

Thiede entered the game in the fifth and inherited a 4-0 deficit in an important Area C "A" contest against a highly-regarded Bear Lake team. He got himself in heaps of trouble by issuing five walks and hitting a batter.

But Thiede hung in there and stranded six Bears by enticing three fly balls to end Bear Lake threats. On offense, Wood River capitalized on four Bear Lake infield errors to score six unearned runs and prevail 6-5.

Making a diving catch of a hard-hit grounder to start a 4-6-3 double play in the seventh was second baseman Matt Conover. The play made all the difference between a tie game and possibly a Bear Lake lead—and the eventual Hailey win.

The big hits in Wood River’s two-out rallies were a two-run single by Conover (2 hits), an RBI single by Drew Detwiler and an RBI single by Steve Durkin that tied it 5-5. Then, Joe Paisley drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to force home the winner.

Allowing only one hit in three innings of work, Thiede (2-2) ended up as the winning pitcher and coach Lars Hovey’s Wolverines—beating Bears ace Zac Nate—salvaged a split of the league twin-bill. Wood River is now 4-4 in one-run decisions.

In the first game Bear Lake (25-11, 16-6 league) out-hit Wood River 12-4 and captured an 11-2 victory. But, by going 5-3 in a six-day stretch playing without ace pitcher Ryne Reynoso (out-of-town at a wedding), Wood River improved to 31-17 on the season and 15-8 in league play.

With the district tourney looming, it looks pretty even atop the 14-team loop with Wood River, Buhl, Jerome (24-17, 18-4), Marsh Falls, Bear Lake and Burley battling for the three state tourney berths from Area C.

Friday, Wood River’s win streak ended at 13 games in American Falls. Host Marsh Falls (17-7 league) narrowly swept Wood River 7-3 and 6-5 and made it three wins in four meetings over Hailey this summer.

In the opening game Conover belted a leadoff homer and Paul Tinker added three hits but the Eagles reached Detwiler (3-4) for 12 hits and blew it open with a four-run sixth.

After Wood River pushed three runs across in the seventh inning of the nightcap to grab a 5-3 lead, Cameron Nelson of Marsh Falls drilled a game-winning three-run homer in the home half to spoil a fine five-hit outing by Thiede.

Paisley and Durkin had big RBI singles in the seventh. And hot-hitting Wolverine catcher Kellen Chatterton went 4-for-4 with a homer and two doubles for Wood River.

Saturday, Wood River got back on the winning track with a 7-3 and 13-3 twinbill sweep at Pocatello as righties Chatterton (1-0) and Brady Femling (2-0) tossed complete-game wins. Chatterton homered in the first game.

Last Wednesday Wood River posted its eighth twin-bill sweep of the season, 14-9 in eight innings and 14-2 over Twin Falls (13-29, 6-19).

Tinker’s grand slam and three hits by Detwiler highlighted the league opener, won by Paisley (2-1). Wood River exploded for five in the eighth to win it. In the nightcap, Femling earned his first win and Chatterton (triple, 3 runs) led the nine-hit attack.

Wood River has a big home doubleheader against the Buhl Tribe today, Wednesday starting at 4 p.m. at Founders Field. Buhl (21-7, 14-4 league) swept Wood River 9-3 and 7-5 back on June 24 so Hovey’s squad will be seeking revenge today.

Next the Wolverines visit Upper Valley in Rigby Thursday and then host Blackfoot in the regular-season finale Saturday, July 27 at 1 p.m.

The district tournament begins Wednesday, July 31 in Idaho Falls.

 

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