Hawks silence Bulldog bats in win

SANDPOINT — Evan Johnson struck out nine and allowed just three hits in six sharp innings, and Eric Cooper provided more than enough run support, as the Hawks downed the Bulldogs 7-1 in a 4A North baseball clash Thursday at Pine St. Field.

Cooper had a triple and a double and scored twice to lead the Hawks (6-3, 2-1 4A IEL), who plated seven runs despite only four hits. Hawks head coach Jason Bradbury called Johnson’s effort phenomenal.

“He had a strong command of all his pitches and kept them off balance,” said Bradbury, also lauding the bat of Cooper. “It’s nice to see him back. He’s letting the barrel of the bat do the talking with a nice, easy swing.”

Jackson Olin, Caleb Nishimoto and Justin Orr each had a hit for the Bulldogs (1-2, 0-1 4A IEL), who were playing in just their second game and never seemed to find any kind of rhythm at the plate.

“Tip your hat (to Johnson), he had good control and spotted the ball really well. It’s tough to face decent pitching when you haven’t seen it yet,” said Bulldogs head coach Chris Young. “Make no mistake, we’ll catch up to them (Hawks).”

Sandpoint hosts Moscow in a big doubleheader on Saturday.

Lakeland   000 230 2 — 7    4    0

Sandpoint  000 010 0 — 1    3    1

Evan Johnson, Nathan Collier (6) and James Prockish; Sam Nitcy, Nik Feyen (4), Chase Rodriguez (5) and Justin Orr. W — Johnson. L — Nitcy.

HITS: LL — Cooper 3, Prockish. Spt — Olin, Nishimoto, Orr. 2B — Cooper, Prockish. 3B — Cooper.