Bocksch tosses gem in shutout win over Timberlake

SANDPOINT — Avery Bocksch was dealing on Thursday.

The senior pitcher tossed a complete game shutout to help Sandpoint baseball secure a 6-0 victory over Timberlake.

"He was outstanding," head coach Chase Tigert said. "It's a testament to the kind of kid he is ... What we saw today was a culmination of all of the hard work that he has put in, and it was just so impressive to watch him do that."

Bocksch pounded the zone and made life miserable for the Timberlake hitters. He only threw 60 pitches and 47 of them were strikes.

"Just about everything [was working] really," Bocksch said about his performance. "I was throwing all my pitches for strikes today and everything was moving like I wanted it to."

Bocksch went three up, three down in four innings and didn't face any trouble until the seventh inning. After a single, a hit batter and a walk, the bases were loaded for the Tigers with only one out.

Tigert took a trip out to the mound to see how Bocksch was feeling.

"I honestly just looked at him and said, 'I want you to finish this,'" Tigert said, "and he looked at me and said, 'Me too coach,' and I said, 'Alright, keep doing what you been doing.'"

Despite being in a jam, Bocksch wasn't going to let go of the ball. He wanted to finish what he started.

"I was ready to keep pitching," he said. "I felt pretty confident I could finish the game. It was nice he came out, it kind of gave me a breather and I settled down a little bit."

The next batter Bocksch faced after the brief meeting on the mound grounded into a fielder's choice and the Bulldogs got out the runner advancing to home.

Then Bocksch forced another groundout to escape trouble and wrap up the three-hit shutout.

Cody Newhart, Ethan Butler, Jack Zimmerman, Blake Sherrill, Cameron Garcia and Bocksch all scored runs for Sandpoint on Thursday, but only one of the Bulldogs' six runs was driven in. That sole RBI came in the fourth inning when Garcia singled to bring in Bocksch. The rest of the runs came courtesy of errors by Timberlake.

Sandpoint only recorded four hits in the game and Tigert said he and the rest of the coaches are eagerly awaiting the day when the bats wake up.

"That's the million dollar question," he said. "I just think we're not quite firing on all cylinders and it's going to click, and when it clicks it's going to be scary because our hitting does not show what these kids are actually capable of."

In their first game back from spring break on Tuesday at Lake City, the Bulldogs only had three hits. Tigert said it's always difficult to return from a break in the middle season, and he's sure that layoff has played some role in their struggles at the plate.

"It probably has a little bit of an impact," he said, "but I believe in these kids and I'm confident in their abilities. It's going to come around."

The Bulldogs (9-2) host Post Falls at noon Saturday.

Timberlake 000 000 0 — 0 3 5

Sandpoint 012 102 X — 6 4 0

Avery Bocksch and Trevor Brackett; Wyatt Kitchin, Caden Robinett (6) and Caleb Knight. W — Bocksch. L — Kitchin.

HITS: TBL — Hessing 2, Borges. SHS — Butler 2, Zimmerman, Garcia. 3B — Butler.