Pitching, defense and timely hitting continued to pay dividends for the Wood River American Legion baseball team during its two-day, overnight trip to eastern Idaho last week.
Wood River (14-4, 11-3 Area C "A") won three of its four games Thursday and Friday.
The Hailey 16-18 year-olds split with the Idaho Falls Rangers, winning 5-2 and falling 8-6. Wood River swept Marsh Falls 2-1 and 13-2 at American Falls. Wood River (5-1 home, 9-3 away) is now outscoring its summer opponents 147-73.
Leading the way on the mound was Coos Bay-bound righthander Pat Patterson (4-0), who has allowed only seven runs, five earned, in his four victories covering 28 innings.
Patterson (81 pitches, 11 K, 2 BB) fired a complete-game one-hitter winning 2-1 at Marsh Falls Friday. He allowed a double and an unearned run in the seventh and final frame, but that was it. It was a well-pitched game for both teams.
Wood River managed only four hits, three by red-hot Jimmy Hague. Hague roped an RBI single for an unearned run in the fourth, and Treasure Valley Community College-bound Trent Seamons pounded a solo homer in the sixth.
In Friday's 13-2 five-inning run-rule win over Marsh Falls, Wood River (14 hits) scored early and often. Righthander Seamons (3-0) tossed a 57-pitch four-hitter, whiffing four and walking no batters.
The Hailey boys built a 3-0 lead on a Hague RBI single and two-run double by Keven Abbott. Marsh Falls tacked on a pair of unearned runs in the home first but those runs were all Seamons yielded on the hill.
In the third, Seamons drilled a triple, Patterson followed with an RBI double and Abbott delivered a run-scoring single for a 5-2 lead. Wood River blew it wide open with a six-run fourth highlighted by a two-run single by Juan Martinez. Seamons (4 hits), Abbott (3 hits), Hague (2 hits) and Michale Brunker (2 hits) and Patterson (2 hits) led the attack.
It was Wood River's fourth doubleheader sweep of 2008.
Thursday against the Idaho Falls Rangers, coach Matt Nelson's Wood River nine divided its third league twinbill. Hailey got a complete-game five-hitter from Sean Bunce (4 K, 0 BB, 2-0) in its 5-2 opening-game victory. Nathan Farrow and Robin Morgus shared the catching.
Again, Wood River scored early, getting two runs on four hits in the first—Patterson and Bunce ripping RBI singles. With the score tied 2-2, Wood River (13 LOB) tallied the decisive three runs in the fourth frame. Greg Wakefield contributed a key single, Patterson drove one home with a hit and Bunce added a two-run single.
Leading 6-1 in the nightcap thanks to a five-run third featuring an RBI double by Brunker and singles by Bryan Bray and Patterson, Wood River stopped hitting—and the Rangers rallied to win 8-6. Tyler Israel absorbed the loss in relief of starter Shane Friesen.
The Legion played Upper Valley of St. Anthony Tuesday at Founders Field in Hailey and will have a week off before visiting Burley July 1. About the Upper Valley visit, Legion manager David Nelson said, "It will be a test." Wood River swept Upper Valley 9-8 and 9-7 last year in eastern Idaho.
