Fisher, Cramer lead Bulldogs past Hawks
SANDPOINT — The Bulldogs and Hawks have been battling tooth and nail all season, so it seemed only fitting that their sixth and final meeting, with their respective seasons hanging in the balance, would come down to the final out.
Ben Fisher returned to the mound for the first time in more than a month to pick up the win, and outfielder Joel Cramer laced the decisive two-run double to lead Sandpoint to a come-from-behind, 9-7 win over Lakeland in a 4A Region 1 loser-out game Tuesday at War Memorial Field.
Fisher, who hadn’t pitched since Sandpoint’s spring break trip to Tucson because of a tender shoulder, went the distance with seven strikeouts, including the final two of the game to end a Lakeland comeback.
“Having Fish back out there gave the defense confidence,” said Sandpoint coach Chris Young, who also had high praise for Cramer. “Joel has absolutely been crushing the ball. He had the big hit, again. He got up there in the right spot and he smashed the ball.”
Down 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth, Cory Neer singled for Sandpoint (9-17), followed by a quality bunt by Nick Halpin, which resulted in a bad throw to first as the runners advanced to second and third. Cramer jumped on the next pitch he saw and drove in the go-ahead runs, and Sandpoint went on to plate four runs in the pivotal frame.
Neer and Halpin each smacked three of Sandpoint’s 13 hits, helping lead the Bulldogs back after falling behind the Hawks 5-2 early in the game.
Brady Schweikert had three hits and drove in three runs to lead the Lakeland (6-18) offense, which jumped on Fisher early to the tune of six runs in the first four innings. The game began to swing in the bottom of the third inning, when a Lakeland error with two outs led to three unearned runs, tying the game at 5-5 and swinging momentum towards Sandpoint.
“Our defense just kind of let us down, and it wasn’t just one guy,” said Hawks coach Jason Bradbury, whose team committed three errors on the game to halt a three game win streak against Sandpoint.
The Hawks made it interesting in the top of the seventh, as Schweikert ripped an RBI single to make the score 9-7. With two outs and runners on second and third, Lakeland manager Jason Bradbury had exactly the situation he wanted with a dangerous .400 hitter in Tyler Ogden at the plate. Fisher was able to dial up one last fastball for the final strikeout of the game.
Sandpoint now faces the daunting task of beating Moscow twice in a row on the road to secure the lone state berth in the true double-elimination format. If Young needs any precedence for how to accomplish this task, he need look no further than this year’s basketball team, which improbably beat the Bears twice in a row in Moscow to make it to state.
“It would be nice to repeat that,” said Young, noting first baseman Bryce Olin and catcher Jonas Cafferty played on the basketball team and certainly know it can be done. “That would be quite a a story.”
Sandpoint faces Moscow today at 4 p.m.
Lakeland 122 100 1 — 7 8 3
Sandpoint 023 004 x — 9 13 2
Cody Vandever, Justin Richardson (6) and Cody Van Duyne; Ben Fisher and Cory Neer. W — Fisher. L — Vandever.
HITS: LL — Guerber, Schweikert 3, South, Van Duyne, Allred 2. Spt — Cramer 2, Fisher, Tonnemacher, Hammack, Olin, Hamilton, Neer 3, Halpin 3. 2B — Halpin, Cramer, Van Duyne, Guerber.