WR Legion rallies
past Bear Lake 6-5
Wood River
(31-17) hosts Buhl today
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.