Everybody says it's cool, and certainly the weather has been cool here in the hills. But don't tell that to the Wood River American Legion 16-18 year-old baseball team, still hot as the Fourth of July in Haileytown as the summer gets underway.
Wood River, still abuzz after its hot-as-firecrackers finish to the high school season, debuted its 35-game season with eight games in six days over the past week. And coach Matt Nelson's squad won seven of those eight games, outscoring foes 86-41.
Thursday, visiting Wood River handled the Jerome Cyclones "A" squad 7-2 and 14-7. Over the weekend at Hailey's Founders Field, Wood River (4-0 at home) swept Bonneville of Idaho Falls 17-10 and 15-5, and beat defending Area C "A" champ Blackfoot 5-4 and 16-6.
Monday night, Wood River made it seven in a row with a come-from-behind 10-3 win at Buhl before falling for the first time 4-2 in the nightcap. Six different pitchers have accounted for the seven WR wins.
"Our guys have been hitting the ball hard and we've been putting a lot of runners on base," said Nelson after Monday night's Area C "A" twinbill split at Buhl. "Winning is all about attitude. It's hard to win every game, but you have to go out there and play hard every inning and stay intense."
The hottest players with the bats have been Wood River's two college baseball-bound seniors, Trent Seamons and Pat Patterson. Seamons has been lights-out with his line drives into the gap and home runs. Patterson has followed suit.
At Jerome Thursday, Seamons (3 hits) belted a solo homer in Wood River's 7-2 victory to support the combined two-hit pitching of winner Greg Wakefield, Shane Friesen and Patterson. Seamons (4 hits, 4 runs, 2 HR, 5 RBI) led Wood River's 14-hit attack in the 14-7 nightcap and had a three-run homer in the seventh. Patterson (4 hits, double, HR, 3 RBI) did his part in the assault as Jake Freeman posted the win.
Wood River came back down to earth Friday when Bonneville pounced with nine runs in the first inning of the Founders Field summer debut. Remarkably, Wood River sent up 15 batters and scored 11 runs in the home half of the first—Kyle Rose smacking a two-run single and Patterson a two-run triple.
With righty Sean Bunce settling down on the hill, Wood River sewed up its 17-10 opening game win with four runs in the sixth, Seamons (2 hits, 4 runs) stroking a two-run single and Patterson (3 hits, 5 RBI) a two-run triple. Other contributors included Bunce (3 hits, 3 runs) and Tyler Israel (3 runs).
Friday's frigid nightcap against Bonneville turned into a shortened 15-5 run-rule breeze. Friesen pitched well and Israel (3 hits, triple, 3 RBI) wielded the hot bat. Others were Michale Brunker (3 hits, 2 runs), Patterson (2 doubles), Tyler Peters (2 hits, 2 runs) and Bryan Bray (RBI double).
The best game of the bunch was Saturday's opener against Blackfoot. Wood River's senior ace Patterson (135 pitches, 6 hits, 4 BB, 11 K) went to battle and threw the 5-4 complete game win that Nelson needed against a still-tough Blackfoot lineup. He held the fort after his team fell behind 2-0 and 3-1.
Wood River struck first with one run in the fourth after leadoff singles by Brunker and Seamons (3 hits, 2 RBI). Patterson's RBI single made it 2-1.
In the fifth, a pair of one-out walks drawn by Bunce and Brunker set the table for back-to-back-to-back doubles off the bats of Seamons, Patterson (2 hits, 2 RBI) and Bray. That made it 5-3 in favor of Wood River. Patterson stranded a pair of Bronco runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh to preserve the win.
Seamons was the winning pitcher of Saturday's 16-6 run-rule nightcap victory. Wakefield ripped a two-run double.
Monday night at Buhl (2-2), Hailey starting pitcher Wakefield threw well and kept his team close, trailing 2-1 in the fourth. Israel's leadoff double sparked a four-run Wood River fifth that included a bases-clearing double by Patterson.
Reliever and winning pitcher Freeman (2-0) held Buhl at bay and Wood River (13 hits) tacked on three runs in the sixth—Seamons (solo HR earlier in the game) delivering a two-run double and Patterson an RBI single. Final was 10-3.
Nelson's team ran into a tough pitcher in Gaige Owen during Buhl's 4-2 nightcap triumph. "Owen mixed up his pitches and threw well. We got only four hits and left a bunch of guys on base," said Nelson.
Boys return to Rodeo Park
Four weeks have gone by, but Wood River American Legion ballplayers still have pretty good memories of Nampa's Rodeo Park diamond, where the nine-team Nampa Outback Father's Day Classic Legion baseball tournament will be staged Thursday through Sunday, June 12-15.
Wood River played three games at Rodeo Park in the State 4A high school tournament May 15-17, winning once and narrowly losing two other games to eventual state champ Bishop Kelly and pre-tournament favorite Minico of Rupert. Nelson's squad played some of its best baseball and ended up finishing fourth in the eight-team State 4A meet.
Of its four round-robin games at Nampa this weekend, three will be played at Rodeo Park and the other at Skyview High School in Nampa. Nelson said, "The kids are playing well, but we'll be playing teams that are a little more challenging this weekend at Nampa."
Here is the Legion schedule:
Thursday, June 12 at 2 p.m.
Wood River vs. Nampa.
Friday 2 p.m.: Wood River vs. Mountain View; and 4:30 p.m., Wood River vs. Mountain Home. Saturday 4:30 p.m.: Wood River vs. Mountain Home at Skyview.
The five teams in the other bracket are Kuna, Vallivue, Seminoles, Upper Valley of St. Anthony and Eagle. The fourth-place, third-place, second-place and championship games are Sunday, June 15 at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
