Slow start costly for Bulldogs in 4A opener

Junior pitcher Authier a bright spot in defeat

IDAHO FALLS — The good news for the Bulldogs in Thursday’s state baseball opener in Idaho Falls was that they outscored Vallivue 3-1 over a rock-solid final five innings of play.

The bad news was a slow start led to a 7-0 deficit after two innings, as the Falcons started quickly and claimed the 4A Idaho State tournament opener 8-3 over the Bulldogs to advance to today’s semis.

Sandpoint (12-7) got in trouble early as starter Tyler Lehman was a little wild, before a two run single by Dusty Swabel led to a 3-0 lead. Tristan Authier came in and got the final out two outs of the first frame.

The Falcons (23-5), who hit .307 as a team this year, would tack on four more in the top of the second behind a home run by Gabe Childs, one of their 11 hits on the day.

Authier would settle down in long relief and provide one of the bright spots in defeat, putting up some zeros and holding the Falcons to just one run in the last five inning to give his team a chance to claw back.

“Tristan Authier did an outstanding job today. He was composed and confident,” said Bulldog head coach Chase Tigert. “Trey Flint hit the cover off of the ball today, just like he’s done all year.”

The Bulldogs were plagued by a couple of base running errors early that kept them scoreless into the fifth. A 5-4-3 double play, turned by Thomas Riley and Tyler Shaffer, ended the fourth inning, and Authier would post his third straight scoreless inning to set up a rally in the bottom of the fifth.

After Billy Brackett struck out looking with runners on first and second with one out in the fifth, Tyler Lehman got the Bulldogs on the board with an RBI single that scored Tyler Shaffer to start a two-out rally. Jacob Cometto then drove in Authier with a single, and Trey Flint smacked a single up the middle to score Lehman and cut the deficit to 7-3 and give the Bulldogs some life with two innings left to play.

After the Falcons added an insurance run in the top of the sixth, Authier ended a rock-solid 6 and 2/3 inning stint of long relief with two of his seven punchouts in the last inning.

Brackett singled with one out and advanced to third on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh, but two outs later the game was over and the Bulldogs were headed to the consolation bracket.

“I am very proud of our guys. We had a slow start, but we continued to battle. The game was much closer than 8-3. Take away a couple of early walks and errors, and were in a 4-3 ballgame heading into the seventh,” claimed Tigert, looking ahead to the next game. “Moving forward, we’re going to do what we’ve done all year — hit the ball hard, pound the zone, and win our next two ball games.”

Senior Tyrone Larson figures to get the ball today, with Preston Pettit also available to pitch, with a win putting the Bulldogs in the fourth place game on Saturday.

Sandpoint will face Idaho Falls, a 3-1 loser to Minico on Thursday, today at noon. The game will be webcast live on Idahosports.com.

Vallivue 340 001 0 — 8 11 1

Sandpoint 000 030 0 — 3 5 2

Chase Carpenter, Stryder Childs (7) and Cobe Lehman; Tyler Lehman, Tristan Authier (1) and Hunter Donahoe/Connor Dodd. W — Carpenter (5-1). L — Lehman (3-4).

HITS: Spt — Flint 2, Lehman, Brackett, Cometto. VV — Childs 2, Larison 2, Suton 2, Lehman, Swabel, Wyatt 2. 2B — Larison. HR — Childs.