Twins beat Nampa Chiefs in extra innings

Jun. 15—Saturday's American Legion baseball game between the Lewis-Clark Twins and the Nampa Chiefs was forced to extra innings off of a two-out right field single by the Chiefs' Aaron Vavold to send Max Sperry home from second to tie the game at 4-4. Prior to the hit, Sperry hit the ball down the right-field line and it just stayed in enough to make it an awkward play for the defense to keep the game going.

What followed was much more in the Twins' favor.

In the bottom of the eighth, Brighton Schumacher was on second base due to the added runner rule in extra innings. A wild pitch allowed him to ease into third and then a passed ball went to the left of the catcher's mitt and Schumacher trotted home to win the game at 5-4.

It was a nice consolation victory for the Twins, who were bounced from their own Dwight Church Tournament on Friday.

Twins' pitching

The Twins (3-7) used four pitchers in the bout. Zack Bambacigno started on the mound, went five innings and allowed three runs (none earned) on three hits with two strikeouts.

Isaiah Raines came in as relief in the sixth with a runner on first. Raines struck out the first batter and then proceeded to walk the next two batters and load the bases.

Enter Zavier McFee. He came in during a rough spot and struck out the next two batters easily to keep the Twins in the lead at 4-3.

Lewis-Clark coach Micah Brown said that McFee did just what he asked him to do and shut the Chiefs down that inning.

"Really proud, especially (of) Zavier McFee, he came in a big spot (with) the bases loaded and got two strikeouts," Brown said. "Really ballsy out of him and (I) loved it."

Hayden Line then closed out the game and pitched two innings with one run allowed on two hits.

Brown said that using multiple pitchers was expected in this game.

"When you get about three or four games in a row, our pitching starts to get a little thin, so we have to call on guys and they got to be ready to go," Brown said.

Twins' offense

The Twins' offense was not a fireworks show. There were some struggles, some of which could be attributed to the solid pitching by the Chiefs (8-6).

But some players did well in the contest. Grady Kennedy went 2-for-3 with two doubles. Makhi Durrett had two hits, including a double, and had one RBI. Colt Kelley had two hits and added one RBI.

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Brown gave credit to Schumacher for some offensive contribution with one hit and the great base-running at the end of the game. He also said Kelley stood out to him with his hits being well-hit line drives.

The Twins combined for nine hits as a team and totaled two RBI.

Learning from the game

The Twins played far from perfect baseball on Saturday. But they did just enough to win the game.

Brown said repeatedly that he is proud of his team for fighting in this game.

"Learning how to win games, especially close games is hard," Brown said. "And doing the right things at the right time and that's where the little things really come into play. Proud of my guys, we're getting gritty and taking steps forward."

He said that Lewis-Clark's main focal point is to just get better every day. Brown said he hopes that the players on the team learn from the things they did not do well. He also said that the team is battling and competing, and while doing that they are learning more how to be consistent baseball players.

What's next

Both the Twins and the Chiefs are out of the Dwight Church Tournament, but continued on playing each other to get more games in for the teams and players.

Lewis-Clark and Nampa will play each other again today at 8:30 a.m. today at Harris Field.

Nampa 210 000 10—4 6 3

Lewis-Clark 001 210 01—5 9 1

G. Koslosky, P. Kons (6) and B. Norman; Z. Bambacigno, I. Raines (6), Z. McFee (6), H. Line (7) and M. Durrett.

Nampa hits — A. Vavold 2, B. Norman 2, M. Sperry (2B), G. Schwenken (2B)

Lewis-Clark hits — G. Kennedy 2 (2 2B), M. Durrett 2 (2B), C. Kelley 2, B. Schumacher, H. Line, Z. McFee.

Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @TrevorJunt.