Cramer leads red-hot Bulldogs to sweep of Bears
SANDPOINT — After popping up in his first at-bat of the game, Sandpoint senior Joel Cramer summoned a teammate to throw his some soft toss behind the dugout, proceeding to smack some baseballs into the chain link fence.
The impromptu batting practice worked wonders, as Cramer smoked a double the next three times he stepped to the plate, driving in a career-high seven runs in the first game of an 18-2 and 6-3 doubleheader sweep of Moscow on Friday at War Memorial Field.
The win gave the Bulldogs (12-7, 6-2 4A IEL) a season sweep of the Bears, ensuring home field advantage for the upcoming 4A Region 1 baseball tournament, which begins on Monday.
Sandpoint head coach Chris Young had high praise for the play of Cramer, one of six seniors celebrating Senior Day in style.
“Joel put a fire into these guys tonight,” said Young of Cramer, coining a new phrase in the process. “He Bulldogs up, and he gets key hits.”
Cramer hit two run doubles in both the second and third innings, as the red-hot Bulldog hitters plated 11 runs to blow the first game open. He added a bases clearing double in a seven run fourth inning that capped a torrid offensive stretch of 18 runs in just three innings.
“After that first pop up, I figured I better get in there,” explained Cramer of the extra batting practice, noting hitting coach Tom Barlow tweaked his swing. “They threw the ball over the plate and I attacked.”
Tyler Gordon also attacked, cranking a deep three run homer into the power alley in left-center, a shot that easily cleared the fence and may have measured more than 400 feet. Ben Fisher, Tommy Jacobs and Cramer each scored three runs, and the Bulldogs banged out 13 hits in their best offensive game of the year.
Ben Fisher picked up his first win of the season with four sharp innings, striking out nine Moscow batters with a mix of fastballs and breaking pitches. The four straight wins over Moscow (4-16, 1-5 4A IEL) has Fisher and the Bulldogs confident heading into the district tournament.
“We’re looking like we’re going to state, I think we have a good shot,” said Fisher, whose late season emergence gives the Bulldogs a wealth of quality arms in the rotation. “We’ve got a lot of senior leadership. A lot of us have been close friends through high school.”
Patrick Anthony went the distance in the nightcap, allowing just three hits and striking out eight Bears. Per usual, his success came from getting ahead of hitters and pounding the strike zone.
“He keeps the ball down and away,” described Young. “Even if he gets behind, he always has it in his mind that he’ll strike the kid out.”
The Bulldogs had to rally to win the second game. Down 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Nick Halpin, who tallied four hits on the day, bunted and reached base on an error to start the inning. Cramer then tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI single, before Daniel Charvoz, who also had four hits on the day, laced a triple into the right-center gap to give the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead and put the game away.
Head coach Chris Young called home field advantage huge, adding that after missing state by one run last year his team is hungry for the lone 4A North state berth. Fisher, Cramer, Charvoz, Anthony, Jacobs, Cory Neer and Beau Griffith were the seniors honored between games.
The Bulldogs will host the winner of Monday’s Lakeland vs. Moscow game on Tuesday, at 4 p.m. at War Memorial Field.
Game 1
Moscow 001 01 — 2 5 2
Sandpoint 065 7x — 18 13 0
Brock Pedersen, Scott Redinger (2) and Justin Parkins; Ben Fisher, Joel Cramer (5) and Eric Nikssarian. W — Fisher (1-0). L — Pedersen.
HITS: Mos — (No. 7), Papineau, Pedersen 2, Iverson. Spt — Halpin 2, Fisher, Cramer 3, Charvoz 3, Nikssarian, Gordon, Jacobs, Hamilton. 2B — Fisher, Cramer 3. HR — Gordon.
Game 2
Moscow 000 120 1 — 3 3 4
Sandpoint 002 004 x — 6 7 3
Morgan and Papineau; Patrick Anthony and Nikssarian. W — Anthony (3-2). L — Morgan.
HITS: Mos — Morgan, Brooks, Iverson. Spt — Halpin 2, Fisher, Cramer 2, Charvoz, Jacobs. 2B — Cramer, Morgan. 3B — Charvoz.