University handed Central Valley its first loss in Greater Spokane League baseball Friday.
Click the tab below to read my unedited game story and roundup.
By Greg Lee
gregl@spokesman.com; (509) 927-2180
It appeared David Borgman had rallied the Central
Valley baseball team to victory when he completed a 4-for-4 day
with his fourth homer of the season in the top of the seventh.
With the Bears trailing 4-3, Borgman lifted a two-run homer to
right center.
Borgman’s heroics didn’t last long, though. In the bottom of the
seventh, Andrew Trowbridge hit a first pitch walk-off two-run homer near the
same spot Borgman had hit his as the University Titans handed Central Valley
its first loss, 6-5, in Greater Spokane League action Friday at U-Hi.
“I was just looking to get something in the air to move the
runner around so the next guy could come up and knock him in,” Trowbridge said.
“I just wanted to be a team player. We just wanted to battle back and compete.”
It was the second one-run decision between the teams in two days
as the teams reached the midway point of the regular season.
“It was a great effort by us,” U-Hi coach Scott Sutherland said.
“It shows we can play with the better teams in Spokane right now. We’re a little down from
last year. We’ve been struggling and trying to find out way. This really gives
us a lot of confidence for the second half.”
CV (9-1), ranked seventh in the Seattle Times’ 4A rankings,
opened a 2-0 lead in the first. The Titans (6-4) bounced back to take a 3-2
lead in the third. Ian Craig-Scott had a run-scoring triple, John Schmedding
knocked in a run on a ground out and Thomas Wakem plated the third run with a
double.
The Bears tied it at 3-3 in the fifth when Borgman, who reached
on a single and eventually stole third, scored on a wild pitch.
U-Hi edged ahead at 4-3 in the sixth when Craig-Scott hit an
opposite-field RBI single.
Outside of Borgman, the usually productive Bears didn’t have many
quality at-bats.
“We left too many guys on base,” CV coach Barry Poffenroth said.
“Any time you’re playing a U-Hi team, you better take advantage of every
opportunity you have, and we didn’t.”
Sutherland was pleased with his team’s effort offensively.
“We’re sort of like the (Seattle)
Mariners,” Sutherland said. “We’re not going to blow anybody out offensively.
Every game is going to be a nail biter. I’m going to have a lot of gray hair at
the end of the year. We did a nice job at the plate of not striking out and
putting the ball in play hard and seeing what happens. That was the key to the
game. We knew to beat these guys, as tough as they are offensively, we had to
score five, six, seven runs.”
In other GSL games, Mt.Spokane
(9-1) moved into a first-place tie with CV, rallying for six runs in the top of
the eighth inning to knock off Ferris 15-14 in a wild game at Ferris. The
Saxons (5-5) scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth. Every Mt.Spokane
batter had a hit. Preston Van Doren led the Wildcats with two hits, including a
homer, and three RBI. Teammate Mike Blankenship had a grand slam. Beau Bozett
went 3 for 3 with three runs for Ferris. … Josh Martin and Dakota Dubois hit
two-run homers in the sixth to lead Lewis and Clark (6-4) past Mead (6-2) 12-10
at Mead. LC’s Sage Poland went 3 for 4 with a solo homer. Jake Schrader
continued his hot hitting ways, going 3 for 4, including a homer, and three
RBI. … ShadlePark (2-7) held off winless Gonzaga Prep
(0-8) 10-6 at SP. The Bullpups pulled within 7-6 in the top of the sixth and
were threatening. But with the bases loaded and one out, the Highlanders got
out of the jam. In the bottom of the winning, Parker Scott had a two-run single
and Ben Shoemaker had a run-scoring hit for the Highlanders. G-Prep scored four
runs in the fifth thanks to four straight hits. … Kyle Primm knocked in the
go-ahead run with a double in the sixth as EastValley (2-5) stopped Rogers (1-7) 8-5 at EV. Morgan Nowles got the
win in relief, allowing no runs in four innings while striking out three. Jim
Wasem led Rogers
with two hits including a two-run homer.
Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online.
You can find a collection of these columns here.