Baseball team opens season with wins
LEWISTON - If they were supposed to be rusty, nobody told them.
The Sandpoint baseball team opened the season with three wins over the weekend in Lewiston, two of which came against 5A teams from the Boise area, which hasn't had two feet of snow covering their fields all spring.
The highlight of the weekend came in a 5-4 come-from-behind win over Borah. Down 4-3 going into the final inning the Bulldogs staged a rally, which ended in the final at bat when Ben Fisher scored on a Cody Reichart fielder's choice. Cory Hawkins picked up the victory on the mound.
The Bulldogs would come back again in a 7-5 win over Meridian after being down 3-0. Ben Fisher and Woody Hawkins shared time on the mound in the win.
Cole Tonnemacher picked up the win in a 14-0 blanking of Priest River. See tomorrow's Bee for a season preview.
n Sigman leads strong showing by Top Dogs
A small pack of Top Dog wrestlers made their way to Butte, Montana on Saturday to compete in Montana's oldest invitational, The Smith-McCarthy Wrestling Tournament. Nearly all of the Dogs earned places in a very competitve field that drew wrestlers from Montana, Idaho, and Washington.
Gage Sigman led the charge for the Top Dogs, pinning all five of his opponents in the first period to capture first place. Other pacers included: Casey Randles, second; Tyler Brown, second; Tanner McNeely, third; Owen Stebbins, Luke Stebbins, and Alex O'Shea each posted multiple wins to finish fourth.
The Top Dogs will compete in Post Falls next weekend and conclude the freestyle season April 5th at the Viper Invitational in Spokane.
n Mariners 5, Rangers 2
SURPRISE, Ariz. - Long reliever Cha Seung Baek did a nice job in a start for the Seattle Mariners.
Baek allowed only one hit while pitching the first four innings Monday for the Mariners in a 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday.
After Baek got his work in, with one strikeout and one walk, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey threw three scoreless innings for Seattle. Dickey gave up three hits and got the victory.
Jeremy Reed had a sacrifice fly in the third when Seattle took a 1-0 lead. Miguel Cairo had a leadoff double in the third, then moved up on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on Reed's flyball. Reed also added and RBI grounder in the eighth when the Mariners scored twice to go up 3-0.
Adrian Beltre had two doubles for Seattle.
No. 21 Washington State prepares for Winthrop
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press Writer
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) - The group that revived Washington State's moribund basketball program will get one last ride in the NCAA tournament and set yet another milestone.
Seniors Kyle Weaver, Derrick Low and Robbie Cowgill will lead the No. 21 Cougars against Winthrop of Rock Hill, S.C., on Thursday. This class, which has broken a pack of futility records in its four years, is now the first to lead the Cougars to two consecutive NCAA appearances.
“We're just really excited and thankful to make it to the NCAA tournament again,” said Low, who could be speaking for all of Cougar Nation.
How starved are Washington State fans for postseason play? Winthrop, their unheralded mid-major opponent, is making its eighth NCAA appearance in the past 10 years. Washington State will be making just the sixth trip in its history.
Washington State (24-8) received a surprisingly high No. 4 seed and a relatively short trip to Denver to play Winthrop (22-11), winner of the Big South tournament.
“I think it was just pretty special for me and the guys to be there no matter what seed we got,” Weaver said.
“I like Denver,” he added.
The Cougars were rewarded for finishing third in the Pac-10, which sent six teams to the NCAAs, and for posting road wins against postseason participants Baylor, Gonzaga and Boise State. They also beat Mississippi Valley State and Portland State, which both made the tournament.