Buhl A bounces back to split doubleheader with visiting Bear Lake

BUHL - Tribe A head coach T.J. Cline had to take a seat toward the end of game one of a doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon.

Legion A Baseball - Buhl vs. Bear Lake

Buhl Tribe's Korbin Hyink delivers a strike on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, during a Legion A game in Buhl against the Bear Lake Bears.

Self-inflicted errors curtailed the Tribe's three-run lead after four innings of Tuesday's seven-inning Legion A contest.

Among his most egregious concerns were Buhl's lack of strikes and passed balls. The visiting Bear Lake Bears scored one run in the sixth inning on a passed ball. The runner, who doubled to open the top of the sixth inning, reached third on a wild pitch.

In the seventh inning, Bear Lake took the lead by scoring two runs while posting just one single via a bunt. Three walks and a hit-by-pitch effectively gifted Bear Lake the lead.

Buhl, employing a catch-up strategy, put the ball in play three times in the bottom of the seventh inning. A pair of groundouts and a hard-hit lineout off the bat of Zayne Meck led to a 7-6 loss for Buhl Tribe A to open its third doubleheader of the fledgling season.

While Buhl failed to record the important outs, Bear Lake's Rylan Woolstenhulme stymied the Tribe. He entered in the bottom of the fifth inning and recorded nine outs on nine consecutive batters to end the game. That included a trio of strikeouts.

Legion A Baseball - Buhl vs. Bear Lake

Buhl's Blayden Lowry fouls a ball off on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in a Legion A baseball game at home against Bear Lake.

The rapid-fire nature of Legion doubleheaders, including Bear Lake's previous Monday doubleheader against Jerome, where the Bears won game one and lost game two, meant Buhl had an instantaneous chance to turn things around.

Six singles in the Tribe's first seven batters drove in five runs in the first inning of Tuesday's second game against Bear Lake. By the end of the contest, the Tribe posted 13 hits. The bottom of the fourth inning marked the only frame in which the hosts did not register a hit.

More importantly, Buhl's pitching shut down Bear Lake's bats. Zayne Meck threw a gem of an outing over his four innings.

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Meck threw only 3.1 innings in the entire 2026 high school season for Buhl, but he has proven himself as an option for Cline and the staff at Buhl heading into the 2027 season.

In addition to giving up a singular hit, Meck struck out 10 Bears in game two to power Buhl to a 9-1 win. He, along with relief pitchers Alejandro Espinioza and Ryker Oparnico, allowed zero walks and one hit-by-pitch in the top of the seventh inning.

The Buhl Tribe is not a perfect recreation of the Buhl Indians' high school varsity baseball team. Porter Higley, for example, played his final game in orange and black. Yet, a host of players, including the aforementioned Meck, will return for Buhl in the coming seasons.

This experience against unfamiliar opposition could prove particularly consequential as Buhl joins the 3A ranks in the 2026-27 school year.

That may seem like a distant thought when considering the 2026 baseball season concluded just a few weeks ago. Yet, it will be a year of change for a host of Buhl sports over the next year. Any form of comfort and practice can be significant.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 7:01 PM.