Sandpoint loses nail-biter to West Valley

SPOKANE — The Sandpoint Bulldogs lost a tightly contested baseball matchup to West Valley, 4-3 on Thursday, March 23 in Spokane.

The Bulldogs got out to a 1-0 lead via a sacrifice fly to center field by Brady Newhart in the top of the second inning. In the bottom half of the inning, the Eagles struck back with a sacrifice fly of their own from Connor Speer to tie the game.

Thomas Meluskey helped put West Valley up, 3-1, in the bottom of the fourth. Meluskey hit an RBI single to score Cody Leaverton; Melsukey then stole home on a passed ball later in the inning.

In the fifth, Jack Zimmerman, a jack-of-all trades for the Bulldogs, cut into the Eagles’ lead with an RBI double to right field. He then came around to score on a groundout by Jesse Turner which tied the game once again, 3-3. On the mound, Zimmerman performed well for the Bulldogs. He pitched three innings, and only allowed one run while tallying three strikeouts.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles scored on an RBI single by Cody Leaverton and took the lead, 4-3. This ended up being the difference-maker as the Bulldogs were not able to record a hit in the sixth or seventh innings. West Valley pitcher, Brandt Kneisler, was throwing his best pitches late in the game; he finished with the win for the Eagles. Kneisler pitched a complete game allowing just three runs on three hits with four strikeouts.

The Bulldogs will look to bounce back on April 11, when they play Lake City in a doubleheader on the road.

SANDPOINT 3, WEST VALLEY 4

SANDPOINT 010 020 0 — 3 7 2

WEST VALLEY 010 210 — X 4 9 1

HITS: WV — Leaverton 3, Meluskey 2, Graham 2, Speer 2. SHS. — Zimmerman 3, MacDonald 2, Dillon, Lehman.

2B — Zimmerman 2, Leaverton, Lehman, MacDonald

RBI’s: WV — Speer, Leaverton, Meluskey. SHS — Zimmerman, Turner, B. Newhart.