Roth’s shutout allows Bengals to lock up IEL championship

The Lewiston High baseball team played like it didn’t want to travel north again this season.

Behind a dominating performance from right-handed ace Rob Roth, Lewiston secured the Inland Empire League championship by shutting out Lake City 4-0 in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon.

Lake City rebounded in the second game for a pride-salvaging 4-2 win.

The league-deciding win means the Bengals (17-3 overall, 12-3 league) will play host to the 5A Region I championship game on May 9 as the top-seeded team. They will take on the winner of a loser-out game between LC and Coeur d’Alene. That game will be played May 8, at a site to be determined.

LC (13-6, 8-5) can capture the No. 2 seed and the right to play host to the loser-out game with a combination of either one more win or one CdA (9-8, 5-7) loss. LC has three more league games remaining while CdA has four.

The doubleheader was the second time Lewiston had traveled to CdA this week. The Bengals split with the Vikings on Tuesday.

Although Lewiston has won six of the eight games against LC and CdA, Bengals coach Tom Grunenfelder believes any of the three could earn the region’s automatic state berth. The runner-up also can earn a state berth in a play-in game.

“It’s too bad that a good ballclub is going to lose that Monday night game,” Grunenfelder said of the loser-out regional opener. “I’m just glad we’re not in that game. When the three of us get on the field, it’s anybody’s ballgame.”

If either LC or CdA is going to knock off Lewiston in the regional final, it will have to be done against Roth. The senior, who was pitching on three days’ rest after beating CdA, was stubbornly tough.

Roth (5-0), who mixed a snappy fastball with effective sliders and breaking balls, struck out 12 while scattering six hits and walking two. Both walks came in the fourth inning, but he worked out of the minor predicament.

CdA coach Brian Holgate called Roth the best pitcher in the league Tuesday. LC coach Cory Bridges echoed the sentiment.

Roth, who entered the game with a 2.12 ERA, has 57 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings while allowing just nine runs.

“He’s been real good,” Grunenfelder said. “He was kind of off the last time we faced these guys, but he seems to get better if he gets into trouble. He was pretty much in command today. I’m glad I didn’t have to face him. I’m glad he’s on my side.”

Like LC, the Bengals managed just six hits in the first game, but they were timely. Lewiston got the runs it needed in the second inning when it bunched three hits for three runs. Tim Kerr provided the key hit, singling in two runs.

Runs were difficult to come by for most of the second game as both LC righty Cory Kreighbaum and Lewiston lefty Collin Gibbs kept the batters off balance.

Beck Roan gave LC a 1-0 lead in the fourth when he knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice.

Lewiston squared it at 1 in the fifth on John Rohde’s run-scoring infield single. Roth put the Bengals ahead 2-1 when he hit a homer, his fourth of the year, in the sixth.

LC bounced back in the bottom of the inning. After Brady Capaul reached on his third hit and Kreighbaum followed with his second, Lewiston catcher Tyler Carson gunned down Capaul, who tried to advance to third on a pitch in the dirt. But Roan knocked in his second run moments later on a fielder’s choice/error, tying the score at 2.

LC took a 4-2 lead on another sloppy defensive play by the Bengals when Brent Everson reached on another fielder’s choice/error combination.

Bridges praised the efforts of his starting pitchers and his team’s defense.

“If we can do that, we’ll be in a lot of ballgames,” Bridges said. “We’re going to swing the bat better.”

•Clay Montgomery hit a three-run home run and finished with four RBIs as Sandpoint (11-6, 9-6) scored five times in the fourth inning in an 8-2 victory over Lakeland (3-14, 1-13) in the opener of a doubleheader at Sandpoint. In the second game, Noah Hawkins drove in five, including a three-run homer in the first inning, as the Bulldogs completed the sweep by winning 13-3 in five innings.