It was a bumpy ride for the Wood River High School baseball team this spring—from the team's snowbound pre-season, to a rocky start on its Founders Field home diamond, to the nearly-impossible schedule shoehorned into the final week.
So much of Wood River's rollercoaster ride was due to inexperience. Although the Wolverines had five seniors, few had varsity background. First-year head coach Matt Nelson put lots of responsibility on the shoulders of five sophomores and a freshman.
Six games in six days since Wednesday magnified the pluses and minus of the season.
The Wolverines beat defending State 4A champion Minico Wednesday and ended their home campaign with a solid 11-1 victory over Burley Saturday. They also lost four games by 10-0, 14-2, 12-2 and 9-4 scores.
Monday's Great Basin Conference West loser-out game at Jerome started out well for the Wolverines (8-16) but Jerome capitalized on Hailey lapses to put together two big innings and prevail 9-4 on a very windy afternoon in Tigertown.
Second-seeded Jerome (13-13), four times a winner over Wood River this season, advanced to play top-seeded Minico (20-6) Tuesday in the Great Basin Conference championship game, at Rupert. Minico pounded Jerome 16-2 in Saturday's semi-final play on the Rupert field.
In Monday's Wood River-Jerome game, the Wolverines took advantage of the wildness of Tiger starter Ben Edwards to build a 4-0 lead in the third inning. Senior center fielder Casey Hawkes (3 hits) led the charge with a pair of key hits, while Kenny Cardona and Derek Abbott also delivered runs in the early going.
But Jerome lefty reliever Em Powell cooled down the Wolverines and threw five innings of two-hit scoreless ball to steady the ship. With designated hitter Mike Cummins driving home four runs with two clutch doubles, Jerome scored five runs in the third and added four insurance runs in the sixth.
Wood River's sophomore Pat Patterson (133 pitches, 7 earned runs, 7 hits, 5 BB, 7 K) tossed another gritty game but had trouble with walks and errors when things got tough. "Pat was in a tough spot but pitched pretty well," said Nelson.
The coach added, "Although I'll miss the seniors, I'm excited about the kids coming up and the future of Wood River baseball."
Wood River advanced into Monday's loser-out game with a convincing 11-1 six-inning run-rule victory over Burley Saturday in the season finale at Hailey's Founders Field.
Righthander Hawkes (2-0), Nelson's ace-in-the-hole on the mound in late-season games, limited #4-seeded Burley (5-17) to just one hit. Hawkes whiffed four Bobcats, walked one and didn't allow an earned run.
It was 1-1 until Wood River (13 hits) struck for back-to-back four-run innings in the fourth and fifth. The fact that Burley pitchers issued 10 free passes helped Hailey quite a bit.
Four consecutive singles by Cardona (2 hits, 2 runs), Abbott (2 hits, 2 runs), Huston Brashears (2 hits) and Morgan Uhrig (2 hits) set the table for freshman shortstop Michale Brunker, who cracked a two-out, two-run triple for a 4-1 lead. Drew Anderson followed with an RBI single.
In the fifth, Cardona's two-run single with the bases loaded made it 7-1, then Uhrig delivered a run-scoring single and Brunker was plunked with the bases loaded for a 9-1 cushion. Cardona drew a two-out walk in the home sixth and came home on Abbott's long triple over the center fielder's head. Brashears ended the game with an RBI single.
Thursday's season-ending doubleheader against Skyline in Idaho Falls was poorly scheduled between the Minico game and Friday's start of the Great Basin West tournament and was played only for contractual reasons. Skyline won 10-0 and 14-2 in five innings.
Skyline out-hit WR 23-6 and the Wolverines committed eight errors. Uhrig and Danny Kramer had two hits apiece.
In Friday's Skyline Great Basin tournament opener at Jerome, the Tigers out-scored Wood River 12-2. Kramer's two-run homer was the only Wolverine hit off Jerome starter and winner Ben Edwards.
