The Blackfoot Broncos did a little Georgetown come-from-behind number on the Wood River High School varsity baseball team Thursday.
Host Blackfoot, trailing 5-2 in the home sixth inning of the non-conference doubleheader, rallied for four runs and retired the Wolverines 1-2-3 in the seventh frame for a 6-5 victory.
Combined with their 9-3 triumph in the opener, the Broncos improved to 4-1 on the season and sent Wood River (1-5, 0-0 league) home empty with its third straight loss.
"I'm hoping it's just the early-season jitters," said Wood River head coach Matt Nelson.
Blackfoot exploded for eight runs in the first inning of the opening game before Wolverine junior righthander Pat Patterson (0-2) settled down and yielded only one unearned run for the final five innings.
Nelson said, "Pat started out flat and threw 39 pitches in the first inning. He threw only 50 for the rest of the game." A two-run double by Trent Seamons helped the Wolverines get runs on the board. "Trent has a good sense with runners on base," said the Wolverine coach.
Wood River hit the ball a lot better in the second game and was right there until the end.
Righty Bryan Bray spotted Blackfoot a 2-0 first-inning lead on a two-run homer in the nightcap. Hailey tied it 2-2 in the second on a Drew Anderson walk, Kenny Cardona single, Erik Jacobson RBI single and Danny Kramer sacrifice fly.
With Bray (5 strikeouts) cruising along and "throwing a gem," Nelson said, Wood River tacked on three runs in the third inning—Alex Moore, Travis Job and Jacobson all delivering run-scoring singles.
Bray surrendered a leadoff double and a one-out walk in the sixth. Nelson summoned reliever Jacobson, who didn't fare much better due to a couple of defensive miscues. Blackfoot scored four runs and made its one-run lead stand up.
"It was a hard one to sit and watch," said Nelson.
Wood River returns to action Wednesday and Thursday, April 4-5 with a Great Basin Conference West home-and-home series against the Burley Bobcats. The Wolverines visit Burley April 4 and then host Burley the next day for their Founders Field debut, April 5.
Burley will take a 2-4 record into its March 31 doubleheader at Preston. Top-ranked 4A Minico (6-2) and #2-ranked Jerome (7-0) are the other Great Basin West contenders.
