Riley Creek opens season with a sweep

CRANBROOK — Moving back up to AA, the Sandpoint Riley Creek Lakers opened the 2004 American Legion summer baseball season with a two-game sweep over Cranbrook Sunday.

New head coach Rick Klontz said he was pleased with the way the Lakers performed, especially pitcher Noah Hawkins.

"Noah threw a great game," he said. "He threw 79 pitches and 53 of those were strikes."

Despite recording a 16-2 victory in Game One, Klontz said Riley Creek's hitting had room for improvement.

"We hit okay, but we could have done better."

In the closing game, Klontz said the Lakers look even stronger as they shutout Cranbrook 5-0.

"We played a much better game," he added.

Sandpoint's Legion team will host Cranbrook in their first home game of the season on Friday. The doubleheader at Memorial Field is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Game One

Riley Creek 004 204 6 — 16 11 3

Cranbrook 020 000 0 — 2 3 7

Noah Hawkins and Chris Karle; Rauch, Carman (6) and Heisler. W — Hawkins. L — Rauch.

HITS: RC — Walkington, Montgomery, Patterson, Hodges 3, Karle 2, Watson, Crabb, Howell. Cran — Panarz, Soukeroff, Rauch.

Game Two

Riley Creek 101 001 2 — 5 10 1

Cranbrook 000 000 0 — 0 5 1

Brent Scott and Alex Wolfe, Chris Karle (6); Janzen, Saunders (6) and Heisler. W — Scott. L — Janzen.

HITS: RC — Lichty, Scott 3, Watson, Hodges 2, Poelstra, Wolfe, D. Hawkins. Cran — Janzen, Saunders, Heisler 2, Reinarz. 2B — Scott 2, Janzen.