State baseball roundup: ‘I got this,’ Bishop Kelly hero says. Skyview suffers 4A upset

It wasn’t a great day to be a Treasure Valley team with a No. 1 seed in a baseball state tournament.

Eagle was upset in the 5A ranks, and Skyview bit the dust in 4A, losing 6-4 to No. 8 seed Bonneville, a team it beat 10-1 in March. Instead of facing local rival Bishop Kelly in the semifinals in Idaho’s second-largest classification, the Hawks will have to try to win a consolation trophy.

The Knights will meet Bonneville at 7 p.m. Friday at Vallivue High School.

In the 3A tournament, Homeland and Fruitland will try to make it a Snake River Valley sweep in the 3A semifinals at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa after posting wins Thursday. The Treasure Valley didn’t fare as well at the 2A level, with both Nampa Christian and Cole Valley Christian losing, or in the 1A tournament.

4A STATE TOURNAMENT

Bishop Kelly 3, Twin Falls 2: When Knights coach Jeff Cammann looked at his batters before the bottom of the seventh inning, he told senior Joe Stroschein to give him a smile.

Stroschein’s reply to Cammann? “I got this.”

With the bases loaded, Stroschein delivered a walk-off two-run single to keep the Knights’ title hopes alive.

Stroschein told the Statesman that Twin Falls pitcher Wyatt Solosabal “worked fastballs throughout the whole game”

“I just trusted what I could do, and went out and did it,” Stroschein said.

Solosabal and Nolan Lehew established the early lead for Twin Falls, using hits and a Bishop Kelly wild pitch to give the Bruins (18-10) a 2-0 advantage. Solosabal also held the fourth-seeded Knights (17-9) to just two hits before senior Cooper Cammann cut the lead to 2-1 with an RBI single.

Three scoreless innings passed before Lucas Blaine and Cooper Cammann reached base in the bottom of the seventh. A single from Jacob Ricks loaded the bases and set the stage for Stroschein, who delivered a single up the middle.

“Stroschein’s one of the guys that we want up in that situation,” Jeff Cammann said. “It was pretty sweet to watch him get it done.”

Stroschein finished with two hits and Cooper Cammann was 3-for-3. He also was the winning pitcher, recording four strikeouts and allowing seven hits through six innings.

“Cooper started off a little slow on the mound, but he’s a bulldog,” Jeff Cammann said. “He was locating the ball after that first inning. He’s our starter and he gets everything going.”

The Knights (17-9) got a state tournament win over the Bruins for the fourth straight year and will be making their fifth straight appearance in the semifinals.

“We just try to keep our routine,” Jeff Cammann said. “The guys like to have a good time when they’re coming out and hitting. We won’t change and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Bonneville 6, Skyview 4: The eighth-seeded Bees, who entered the state tourney with a losing record, stung the top seed early, getting 10 hits and scoring five runs in the first four innings.

The Hawks (22-3) couldn’t recover and lost to a 4A opponent for only the second time this season.

“Our team consists of a bunch of juniors and sophomores, and we just tried to keep one pitch at a time,” Bonneville coach Ryan Alexander said. “Skyview is a really good team, and the pitchers did a good job of mixing speeds. But for our young guys to just stay in moments was huge for us, and that’s how we ended up on top.”

After a Grady Daniels RBI single gave Skyview a first-inning lead, Bonneville’s Gavin Hernandez slashed a two-run single in the second inning. Taye Lords followed with an RBI single to left field to make it 3-1.

Carter Bowen and Greyson Martin then delivered RBI singles in back-to-back at-bats in the fourth inning, staking the Bees to a 5-2 advantage.

Lords, Martin and Coltan Spagnuolo each had two hits for Bonneville.

“They did a good job putting the ball in play,” Skyview coach Ryan Bobo said. “They didn’t hit balls hard, but they found hits when they needed to and scored enough runs to beat us.”

Skyview freshman Ledger Downs had a two-run single in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 6-4, but Bonneville pitcher Lincoln Stuart closed out the win.

3A STATE TOURNAMENT

Homedale 16, Parma 6: No. 1 seed Homedale didn’t use pitching ace Dillon Fine, relying on its offense to roll into the semifinals.

But not without some nervous moments.

The Trojans (22-4) trailed 6-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth inning, when they batted around and then some, scoring 11 runs to take control.

Payton Fine, Dillon’s twin brother, was the starting pitcher and struggled early. But he helped the offense with two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs. Andres Garcia was 2-for-2 with four RBIs, and Lukas Hall and Chance Martell each had three hits and scored five runs between them. Hall also was the winning pitcher in relief.

Dillon Fine was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a run knocked in for Homedale, which will play No. 4 seed Kimberly at 6:30 p.m. Friday at NNU.

The Panthers (10-15) got two RBIs apiece from Kaden Cole, Jacob Mikelson and Kaydn Brenneck, and Samuel Hultman had three hits and two runs scored.

Fruitland 7, Timberlake 3: The Grizzlies used a five-run third inning to take control and batted their way into the semifinals at NNU with an 11-hit attack.

Nate Grosvenor had two hits and three RBIs for Fruitland (18-6), and Jace Mordhorst added two hits and two RBIs. Leadoff hitter Titus Vidlak had three hits and scored twice.

Landon Bushong got the win in relief for the Grizzlies, striking out six in four innings and allowing only an unearned run.

Fruitland, the No. 3 seed, will face second-seeded Sugar-Salem at 4 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.

2A STATE TOURNAMENT

Wendell 5, Nampa Christian 1: The Trojans saw their championship hopes end, as their second loss of the year came in the first round of state to the Wendell Trojans.

Wendell (17-5) got an outstanding combined pitching performance from Alex Hirai, who allowed just one run on three hits in five innings, and Cooper Jones, who tossed two perfect innings in relief.

Nampa Christian (22-2), which lost in the state finals last season, had no extra-base hits and scored its only run in the bottom of the sixth, when a Kaden Mullins sacrifice fly plated Landon Mills, who started the inning with a single.

Challis-Mackay 11, Cole Valley Christian 5: The Rivercats were outhit 8-7 by the Chargers, but they took advantage of five walks, three batters hit by pitches and three Cole Valley errors to get the win.

Carson Russell led the Chargers (21-7) with three hits and two runs scored, and Chris Bobrowski had a pair of hits, scored a run and knocked in one.

1A STATE TOURNAMENT

Vision Charter and Idaho City both lost first-round games Wednesday at Capital High School to fall into the consolation bracket.

Idaho City rebounded with a wild 17-12 win over Lighthouse Christian on Thursday to make Friday’s consolation final, a day after the Wildcats lost 10-6 to Kendrick.

Vision Charter fell 7-4 to Troy in the first round and 7-1 to Glenns Ferry on Thursday, ending the Eagles’ season.

This story was originally published May 16, 2024 at 11:54 PM.