Bulldogs fall short against Lake City

SANDPOINT — Ben Fisher’s opposite field drive in the final at-bat fell about three feet short of being a walk-off home run, and the Bulldogs fell 6-4 to Lake City Friday during Inland Empire League baseball action on Senior Day at War Memorial Field.

Kyle Kausen hit a two-run homer in the first inning and added a triple to lead the Lake City (8-9, 4-7 IEL) offense, and Jason Pattis went the distance on the mound to pick up the win.

Senior Jordan Hammack hit a two-run homer to straight away center to lead a balanced Sandpoint (8-16, 2-8 IEL) offense as seven different players got hits.

The Bulldogs fell behind 4-0 early in the game, but as they have all year, continued to hammer away for all seven innings. David Dishong relieved Hammack on the mound and finished the game with three scoreless innings, giving his team a chance to hang around.

Down 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh, Sandpoint had runners on second and third with two out, with Fisher representing the winning run. He hit a high opposite field fly ball that carried all the way to the right field fence for the final out.

“We battled hard and fought to get in a position to win that game,” said Bulldogs head coach Chris Young, sounding a familiar refrain. “That’s all you can ask for as a coach.”

Seniors Jordan Hammack, Bryce Olin, Jake Semones, Jonas Cafferty, Ricky Lang, David Dishong and Cole Tonnemacher were each honored before the game.

While it would have been nice to win Friday, today’s district playoff opener against Lakeland is the one that really counts. The Bulldogs beat Lakeland handily the first two times the teams met, then lost the last two in very tight games.

Young is simply preaching to his team that Lakeland, Sandpoint and Moscow are each 0-0 and the season starts fresh today. Young will throw ace Cole Tonnemacher against Lakeland (4-14).

“We have to win that game,” said Young of today’s opener, refusing to look any further. “We’re hitting the ball well, it’s just a matter of playing defense behind Cole.”

First pitch is at noon at War Memorial Field.

Lake City   202 110 0 —6    12   0

Sandpoint  001 210 0 — 4    8    0

Jason Pattis and Emmett Stengel; Jordan Hammack, David Dishong (5) and Jonas Cafferty. W — Pattis. L — Hammack.

HITS: LC — Pharis 2, Kausen 2, Pattis, Sanchez 2, B. Mayfield 2, Truscello, Mort, C. Mayfield. Spt — Cramer, Semones, Fisher, Hammack 2, Charvoz, Cafferty, Lang. 2B — B. Mayfield 2, Sanchez, Mort. 3B — Semones, Kausen. HR — Kausen, Hammack.