Hansen keeps Hailey boys alive
Beats Buhl 7-5 with gutty performance
Statistically, Wood River righthander
Steve Hansen has thrown better games—like his 10-0 masterpiece over Fruitland at
last May’s State 3A tournament, and his 12-0 five-inning no-hitter over
Sugar-Salem at the Preston baseball tournament May 1.
But Hansen (7-2, 15-3 two seasons) has
probably never tossed a grittier game than Monday’s 7-5 complete-game victory
over the upset-minded Buhl Tribe in a loser-out game of the Sawtooth Central
Idaho Conference tourney at Founders Field in Hailey.
Hansen, pitching to the meat of the plate,
spotted Buhl a 5-1 lead in the second inning and then settled down and started
hitting the corners.
Once he did, Wood River’s ace was in
control—and Hansen also threw clutch pitches when needed, with men on base. He
stranded four Tribe runners at third base in the final five frames. Because he
did, Hansen held Buhl scoreless in the final five innings.
His never-say-die effort (128 pitches, 8
hits, 8 strikeouts, 3 walks) enabled defending State 3A champion Wood River to
chip away and tie Buhl 5-5 in the fifth, and then win the critical game 7-5 by
manufacturing two unearned runs in the sixth inning.
Hansen led off the sixth by reaching on an
infield error. Leadoff batter Brady Femling bunted him to second and Hansen
scampered to third on a wild pitch. A slow infield roller by Steve Durkin
delivered Hansen with the go-ahead run, then another Buhl infield error brought
Kellen Kinghorn (3 runs) home with insurance.
Tyler Thiede’s two-run double rallied Wood
River from a 5-3 deficit into a 5-5 tie in the fifth. First baseman Thiede
finished with two hits to lead Hailey’s seven-hit attack. Buhl (14-12) saw its
season end with another close loss to Hailey. The Tribe fell to Wood River 5-2,
3-1 and 7-5 this spring.
Hansen’s effort let the Wolverines play
another day.
The top-seeded Wolverines (22-4) traveled
to Filer Tuesday to play in the SCIC championship game against the #2-seeded
Filer Wildcats (21-4). Filer had beaten Wood River 8-4 Saturday in Hailey on
Paul Gerrish’s complete-game eight-hitter at Founders Field.
Gerrish’s win Saturday was the biggest in
Filer’s short and not-so-sweet baseball history.
Keep in mind that the Wildcats entered
this season had a lowly 1-10 record over five years in SCIC tourney games, and
had been outscored 114-54. In contrast, Wood River (a 137-71 scoring edge) was
14-2 with four SCIC titles in five years.
But Gerrish (123 pitches) tamed Wood River
for the second time this season. Filer’s six-run third sparked by an RBI double
by Josh Paxton (3 hits) gave the ‘Cats an 8-2 lead. Gerrish snuffed out two
bases-loaded Wolverine threats in the sixth and seventh.
Dylan McIlhenny and Kellen Kinghorn each
had two hits for Wood River (8 hits). The Wolverines lost in the SCIC tournament
for the first time in eight games dating back to the 24-16 home title game loss
to Buhl at Founders in 2001.
Friday, Steve Durkin’s grand-slam homer
was one of 24 Hailey hits in a 25-1 tournament-opening victory over Kimberly
(0-19). McIlhenny added three extra-base hits.
Another Filer win over Wood River Tuesday
would have relegated the Wolverines to an intra-district play-in game Saturday,
May 15.
But, if Wood River beat Filer’s Gerrish
Tuesday, the Wolverines would have earned back the home field advantage for
today’s 5 p.m. if-necessary SCIC game at Founders Field.
The SCIC champ opens the State 3A tourney
against the Sixth District champ (South Fremont, Sugar-Salem) Thursday, May 20
at 10 a.m. at Treasure Valley CC, Ontario, Ore. By winning Saturday’s play-in
game, the SCIC runner-up would open state action next Thursday at 8 p.m. against
the Third District (Boise) champ.