Wednesday, April 11, 2007

WRHS nips Burley 10-9 and Minico 5-4 at Founders

In early going, baseball team sits atop Great Basin West


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

Erik Jacobson belted a long two-run triple in Wood River?s decisive five-run sixth that beat Burley 10-9 Thursday in Hailey. Photo by David N. Seelig

There's a whole laundry list of ways to win baseball games—good catches, great throws, clutch pitching and timely hitting on the list.

Coach Matt Nelson's Wood River High School varsity nine crossed off a bunch of those items as the 2007 spin cycle debuted at Founders Field in Hailey over the past several days.

First and foremost, Wood River rose to the occasion and won its first two home games, and league games at that, both times in heart-stopping ways.

The Wolverines held off the Burley Bobcats 10-9 Thursday and came up with another dramatic victory Monday, 5-4 over defending league champion Minico. In each game Hailey got the lead and staved off seventh-inning rallies—a five-run seventh by Burley and a four-run seventh by Minico.

And both were Great Basin Conference West league triumphs putting Wood River (3-8) temporarily atop the league standings with a 2-1 record and three league games to go.

Junior righthander Erik Jacobson (3-1) was the winning pitcher in each game, doing it as a reliever against Burley and doing it as a starter with a strong 110-pitch, six-hitter against Minico (10-5, 0-1 league). Junior Pat Patterson earned the save against Minico.

"We have to go in baby steps, but both games were good experiences for us," Nelson said. "We actually closed out a couple of games and got our first league wins. We're working on our baseball savvy and knowing what to do in every situation that comes up."

Every player in the Wolverine lineup contributed in one way or the other to the wins.

Against Minico on a wintry Monday afternoon, third baseman Patterson got the ball rolling in the second inning against Spartan lefty Dane Broadhead with booming leadoff triple to deepest center.

The Wolverines batted around and went on to score all their five runs, four unearned. Kyle Rose, Jacobson and Kenny Cardona (2 hits, double) ripped three straight RBI singles.

Jacobson (6 innings, 4 runs, 6 hits, 6 K, 5 BB) was in trouble every inning but held the high-scoring Spartans scoreless for six consecutive frames. He mostly stayed ahead on the count and, most importantly, retired the leadoff batter six times. Jacobson stranded eight Spartan runners in scoring position and was helped by two double plays in the infield.

Minico, trailing 5-0, sent out the top of its batting order in the seventh and scored four times on three walks and three hits. Reliever Patterson got two huge swinging strikeouts and ended it with a soft grounder to Jacobson at first—and the potential tying run at second.

Minico out-hit Wood River 7-6 but stranded 10 runners, compared to Hailey's four. After breaking out against Broadhead in the second, the Wolverines couldn't touch Minico long reliever Colby Anderson (4 innings, 35 pitches, 0 runs, 1 hit, 5 K). Anderson kept his team in the ball game.

Thursday's Burley victory was a back-and-forth, nearly three-hour contest with 19 hits, five pitchers and a play at the plate for a thrilling conclusion.

Wood River shortstop Drew Anderson (3 hits, 2 runs) drilled a two-out, two-run triple in the second for a quick 3-0 lead. Burley (3-7, 1-1) bounced right back with three runs for a 3-3 tie in the third as Hailey starter Patterson (87 pitches, 4 runs, 6 hits, 3 K, 3 BB) struggled a bit in the middle innings.

Nelson said, "Pat did everything I asked him to and went out and threw strikes."

The Bobcats, 7-1 home winners over Wood River the previous day, tied it 4-4 in the fifth and threatened to score more. But relief pitcher Jacobson got two whiffs and stranded the go-ahead runner at third. In the home half, catcher Kenny Cardona belted a leadoff homer to drive Burley starter Dallan Beltran to the showers and give Wood River a 5-4 advantage.

In the home sixth, Wood River sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs on four hits and four walks. A leadoff single by Anderson, a bloop double by Trent Seamons (2 hits), two-run triple by Jacobson (2 hits, 3 RBI) and RBI single by Bryan Bray did most of the damage. Danny Kramer and Rose walked runs home.

The 10-4 cushion looked comfortable with three outs to go and Jacobson on the hill.

Burley pecked away. Two hits, two walks and two infield errors cut the home team's lead to 10-8 with no outs and runners at second and third.

Jacobson (63 pitches in 3 innings, 3 hits, 4 earned runs, 4 K) struck out Burley's #9 hitter and enticed a ground ball to third baseman Danny Kramer. Kramer held the runner at third and made a low throw to first, but Bray scooped it successfully for the second out.

"Bryan's dig at first was just outstanding," said Nelson.

The #2 Burley hitter, Steve Andreason (2 hits) then ripped an RBI single to left field and the Bobcat runners took off like rabbits. One, James Larsen, scored easily from third. The second, Greg Dayley, rounded third and headed home with hopes of scoring the tying run.

But Wood River left fielder Michale Brunker fielded the ball cleanly and fired a strike to catcher Cardona that nailed Dayley by six feet for the last out of Wood River's 10-9 win.

"You just couldn't have asked for a better throw from Michale," said Nelson said. "It was a good outing for everybody on our team, all around, and gave us a shot in the arm for our game against Minico."

Last Saturday, Wood River squeezed in a non-conference doubleheader against the Skyview Hawks (8-7) in Nampa. Skyview swept the twinbill 7-3 and 8-4 as Nelson handed out some work to up-and-coming pitchers Bray and Sean Bunce.

Wood River built 2-0 leads in each game but couldn't hold down Skyview. Rose's two-run single and an RBI single by Jacobson made it 3-1 in the opener but those were all the runs Wood River (7 hits) could muster. Cardona and Brunker each contributed two hits.

Nelson said, "We left 11 runners on base."

In Saturday's nightcap, first-inning RBI hits by Cardona (double) and Bunce made it 2-2, then the Wolverines bounced back from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game 4-4 in the second on Anderson's two-run double. But Wood River couldn't keep Skyview's leadoff hitter off base and the Hawks scored the final four runs of the ball game.

That problem of keeping the leadoff hitter off the basepaths corrected itself Monday in the game against Minico, thanks to Jacobson and his fielders.

Wood River visited Minico Tuesday and hosts Preston for a noon doubleheader Saturday, April 14 at Founders Field in Hailey. The Wolverines travel to Filer next Tuesday.

The Jerome Tigers (10-0, 0-0) hosted Burley Tuesday and go to Burley today, Wednesday in other league games. The Minico-Jerome two-game series is April 17-18, then Wood River and Jerome go at it April 23-24.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.