The Preston Indians had Wood River's number last year, but the Wolverines will try to switch things up Saturday when Preston arrives at Hailey's Founders Field for a high noon non-conference prep baseball doubleheader.
Preston, last year's Great Basin Conference champion, defeated Wood River 14-5 and 5-3 in Hailey and 17-3 in Preston last spring. The Indians will be coming to Hailey after a scheduled game Friday against Minico in Rupert.
Wood River (2-1 home) saw plenty of #5-ranked Minico this week, with mixed results.
Minico (11-5, 1-1 league) put together a six-run second and 13-hit attack to beat Wood River (3-9, 2-2) by a score of 11-5 Tuesday on the Rupert diamond. The Spartans gained revenge for a 5-4 conference loss to Wood River Monday.
Coach Matt Nelson's Wolverines built early leads of 2-0 and 4-2 Tuesday but couldn't make them stand up in a match-up that could have been a preview of a first-round Great Basin West tournament match-up in May.
After Saturday's home twinbill against Preston, Wood River visits Filer (3-8) Tuesday, April 17.
Meanwhile, the #2-ranked Jerome Tigers (11-0, 1-0) opened their Great Basin West pennant chase Wednesday with a 6-2 road victory at Burley (3-8, 1-2). Jerome hosted Burley Thursday in the second game of their home-and-home.
Looking ahead to the rest of the league games, the Minico-Jerome two-game series is April 17-18. Wood River and Jerome go at it April 23-24, and Burley and Minico square off April 24-25.
Since the Great Basin seems to have parity, Wood River's best hope for a first-round home game in the tournament lies with a sweep of Jerome, but failing that, a good showing in conference games including Saturday's pair against Preston.
