Area roundup: North Idaho golfers take team titles at NWAC event

Ross Gilbert of North Idaho shot 2-under 70 on the second and final day to earn the individual title at the Green River Northwest Athletic Conference match on Monday at Washington National Golf Club in Covington, Washington.

NIC’s men’s and women’s teams both won team titles. The men topped Bellevue by seven strokes while the women won by 15 shots over Skagit Valley.

Gilbert shot 73-70-143 to finish 1-under par for the event and edged Jackson Hall of CC Spokane (71-74-145) by two strokes.

NIC’s Sean Langham also garnered a top-10 finish, in a ninth-place tie at 5-over 149.

Madi Brown (82-80-162, 20-over par) was NIC’s top women’s finisher in second place, two strokes behind champion Brianna Esvelt of Columbia Basin. Katie Fyall (NIC) tied for third three strokes back of Brown.

Katie Hilliard was the top finisher for CCS, in sixth at 88-81-169.

Spokane took third in the men’s competition and fourth for the women.

Baseball

After another 15-strikeout performance April 21 at Portland, junior RHP Eli Morgan is garnering further national recognition.

For the third time this year, Morgan was named one of Collegiate Baseball’s National Players of the Week, and he’s once again up for USA Baseball’s Golden Spikes Gold Standard Performance. Fans may vote for Morgan through the organization’s poll on the @USAGoldenSpikes Twitter account.

Also, Morgan picked up his fifth Rawlings West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week honors. He’s won all of those conference honors in just the last eight weeks.

Against the Pilots last Friday, Morgan was once again masterful, tying both a season and a career-high with 15 strikeouts while just allowing three hits in eight scoreless innings of work. He became just the second Division I pitcher turn in multiple 15-strikeout outings this season and moved up to a tie for third in the country with 95 total strikeouts. He’s now 7-1 on the year with a 2.34 ERA.

Gonzaga team moved into the Collegiate Baseball poll after sweeping Portland over the weekend and extending its win streak to seven games.

The Zags (24-14, 14-4) entered the poll at No. 19 after being unranked in last week’s edition. They are the highest-rated West Coast Conference team in the poll as San Diego is No. 24.