Idaho baseball state playoffs: Mtn View upsets Owyhee. Middleton pulls out late win
Three Treasure Valley teams opened the Idaho high school baseball state tournament with victories Thursday.
Mountain View upset No. 1-seeded Owyhee, and Middleton pulled out a win on a head-first slide at first base to set up an all-SIC semifinal round in the 6A tournament. And at the 3A level, perennial power Nampa Christian took down a conference rival to stay in the winners’ bracket.
Get caught up on everything from the first day of the new double-elimination tournaments below.
IDAHO 6A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
[Related: 6A baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
MOUNTAIN VIEW 9, OWYHEE 1: Five days ago, Mountain View stood three outs from elimination. Now the Mavericks are one win away from playing for a state title.
Fourth-seeded Mountain View (22-10) erupted for five runs in the top of the first inning at Memorial Stadium and kept adding on, upsetting the three-time defending state champs and No. 1 seed to continue a Cinderella run.
“We’re a sleeper team,” Mountain View sophomore Ryan Yesford said. “We’re definitely going to go out and show the valley what we’re made of. Just watch out.”
The Mavericks advanced to face Middleton in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium.
Thursday’s victory extended the Mavericks late-season offensive onslaught. Dating back to last week’s regional tournament, the Mavericks have scored 29 runs in their past 13 innings.
“We’ve got a lot of guys up and down our lineup that are tough outs, and they’re just now starting to prove that to everybody,” Mountain View coach Justin Schneidt said. “... It’s crazy. It’s the contagiousness of one guy does it, the next guy does it, and you get nine guys on the same roller coaster and everyone’s taking off.”
Mountain View finished the night with nine runs on nine hits, including four extra-base knocks. Yesford led the way with a 2-for-4 night with a double, a triple and three RBIs. Cade Burnham and Ryder Hollifield also doubled.
Meanwhile, Mountain View senior Davey Green shut down the SIC’s top lineup. Only the state’s pitch count rules forced Green off the mound as he finished the night giving up one run (none earned) on four hits with three strikeouts through 6 ⅔ innings.
“That five-run first helped,” Schneidt said. “He could settle in and (could) be able to make a mistake and feel OK with it. But I don’t know if he made any mistakes.”
Owyhee pushed across its only run in the fifth inning after Cody Freed reached on an error, and pinch-runner Cohen Cole scored on an infield single from Gage Haws.
The Storm (26-3) drop into the losers’ bracket, where they will face Coeur d’Alene (19-6) at 4 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium in an elimination game.
MIDDLETON 6, COEUR D’ALENE 5: Christian Aragon wouldn’t be denied with the game on the line. The senior dove head-first into first base, avoiding the tag while the game-winning run crossed the plate to lift the Vikings into the second round.
Aragon ripped a hard-hit ball to first baseman Gavin Helms with two outs in the bottom of the fifth in a tie game. Helms knocked the ball down with his chest, scrambled to recover the ball and dove back to the foul line to cut off Aragon before he could get to the bag.
But Aragon swung out wide to avoid the tag, bringing home Cam Lenius from third base for the decisive run.
“You just love how he plays with hair on fire,” Middleton coach Bryant Swygart said. “That whole play was just him. That’s exactly who the kid is. He’s got all the girls’ numbers in the high school. You know, we call him Christian Rizzo. He just lives life.”
The win lifted Middleton (21-4) into Friday’s semifinal vs. Mountain View.
The hustle play answered Coeur d’Alene’s three-run rally in the top of the fifth. Middleton originally jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but the Vikings from North Idaho chipped away until Hunter Chambers drove in the tying run with a bases-loaded walk with one out in the fifth.
Middleton reliever Gavin Ament struggled with his command in his first appearance in three weeks, walking the first two batters he faced. But the senior eventually settled in, striking out Tyler Voorhees before Lenius’ glove bailed him out of the inning.
A hot shot forced Middleton’s third baseman back onto his heels and threatened to bring home multiple runs. But the sophomore playing out of position backhanded the ball out of the air, recovered and dove head first into third base for the force out to end the threat.
“That was huge,” Middleton junior Grady Churchfield said. “That was huge to get out of that inning.”
IDAHO 5A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
[Related: 5A baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
TWIN FALLS 3, VALLIVUE 2: The Bruins edged the Falcons on Jordan Bingham’s two-run single to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Vallivue (25-4) will try to keep its season alive against Skyview in a 4 p.m. matchup Friday at the College of Idaho’s Wolfe Field in Caldwell.
The Falcons totaled seven hits, led by pitcher Eli Daniel’s 2-for-4 performance. Cooper Crutcher added a double and an RBI.
Daniel was saddled with the loss, giving up five hits and three earned runs while striking out eight with three walks.
BONNEVILLE 4, SKYVIEW 2: The fourth-seeded Hawks scored two runs in the top of the first, but they couldn’t overcome the top-seeded Bees’ four-run fourth inning.
Jackson Ropp picked up the win for Bonneville, ending the game with four no-hit innings on the mound.
Right fielder Mason Krahn and center fielder Nixon Downs had Skyview’s only hits, and Joe Bernal took the loss on the mound.
The Hawks (19-7-1) play conference foe Vallivue in an elimination game at 4 p.m. Friday in Caldwell.
IDAHO 4A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
[Related: 4A baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
SUGAR-SALEM 7, FRUITLAND 3: Four errors led to five unearned runs and doomed the Grizzlies’ perfect record. But they’re not out of the hunt for a state title yet.
Defending state champ Sugar-Salem (20-4) jumped out to a 7-0 after four innings thanks in part to those errors. Fruitland made it interesting with Quinn Hood’s two-run double and Landon Bushong’s one-run single in the fifth. But it never got a runner past first base in the next two innings against Sugar-Salem starter Jack Gardner, who went the distance on the mound.
Fruitland (26-1) drops into the losers’ bracket, where it faces Cole Valley Christian (23-6) at 4 p.m. Friday at Melaleuca Field in Idaho Falls.
MARSH VALLEY 14, COLE VALLEY CHRISTIAN 7: The Chargers struggled on the mound, using four different pitchers in a first-round loss to the Eagles.
Marsh Valley plated five runs in both the third and fourth innings as Chargers pitcher Carson Kile gave up six hits and seven earned runs before being pulled after 3 ⅓ innings.
Cole Valley totaled 10 hits, paced by right fielder Eli Hamby’s 3-for-4 outing. Left fielder Blake Wilson added two hits, including a double.
IDAHO 3A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
[Related: 3A baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
NAMPA CHRISTIAN 5, MARSING 1: The third-seeded Trojans knocked off their 3A WIC rivals in the opening round.
Nampa Christian tallied eight hits, including two apiece from Jack Ihli and Kaden Mullins, with Ihli totaling three RBIs and Brayden Schaefer accounting for one.
Mullins also earned the win on the mound, allowing three hits and one earned run while striking out six in four innings. Ihli closed out the game with three no-hit innings and four strikeouts.
Nampa Christian (20-5) faces Malad (23-6) at 7 p.m. Friday at Rodeo Park in Nampa for a spot in the championship.
Marsing (18-7), which got one hit apiece from Jace Chadez, Luke Steinmeyer and Niko Godina, will try to keep its season alive against top-seeded Orofino(23-4) at 4 p.m. Friday.
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 11:06 PM.
