Saturday is a great day to play a baseball game and a sunny Saturday is ideal to play two.
Under just such conditions, Wood River (12-4, 2-1 league) hosted the Vallivue Falcons and Preston Indians at Founder's Field and came away with a pair of wins, beating Vallivue 7-3 and Preston 7-2.
"We had a team from the East and a team from the West. Everyone got their swings and playing time," coach Lars Hovey said. "The teams had some fun playing baseball and to win both games was just a bonus."
Opening up against Vallivue, Wood River scored a run in both the first and third innings and broke open a 2-1 contest with a 5-run fifth frame, in which they chased three Indian pitchers off the mound.
Jonathan Dittmer led off with a walk and went to second on a single by Brady Femling (2 hits). Morgan Uhrig was issued a base on balls to load the bases and Steve Hansen's fielder's choice scored Dittmer.
Facing the second pitcher of the inning, Hailey drew two consecutive walks, scoring one and setting the table for Corey Hawkes, who delivered a two-RBI double to finish off the scoring.
Batting in the leadoff spot, senior Brady Femling belted two hits and scored three runs. Steve Hansen doubled and scored and hits were also tallied by Uhrig and Ted Dankanyin.
Besides allowing three runs, the Wood River defense was fairly stingy. Only two out of 13 base runners reached third and Wood River completed a pick-off play at second base and an inning-ending double play to get out of a potentially sticky situation in the second.
Winning pitcher Tyson Reynoso (4-1) tossed four innings of one-hit, one-run ball. Kenny Cardona threw two innings (4 K's) and Ted Dankanyin polished off the game.
Preston served notice in the nightcap, scoring two runs off two hits in the first inning. With a man on third, Hailey's Steve Hansen (9 K's) fanned the next two batters to get out of the jam.
Wood River narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the second. Tyler Theide (2 hits) singled and scored on a hit by Derek Abbott.
The Wolverines took a 3-2 lead in the third on a pair of unearned runs by Femling (3 hits) and Kramer and tacked on another two runs in the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Femling and Reynoso.
Runs by Ben Molynuex and Dittmer finished off the scoring at 7-2.
The wins pushed Wood River to 12-4 on the season and Hovey said he is fairly happy with the direction his team is heading since its last loss on April 12.
"I think Minico kind of knocked us for loop at their place, but I think we gained some momentum from these wins," Hovey said.
"Hopefully, we will get past Burley on Wednesday, which will give us good position in the league and we have three games next weekend to fine tune some things."
Wood River is home to Burley, today, Wednesday, April 20. First pitch is 4:30 p.m. at Founder's Field.
Brady Femling turns the double play to stifle a Vallivue rally in the second inning.
