Middleton baseball chose to play up a level. It paid off with a state title
The Middleton High baseball program could have taken the easy route.
New state enrollment rules allowed the Vikings to drop down into Idaho’s second-largest classification, 5A. But Middleton’s baseball program chose the hard route, petitioning to stay in the top division and compete against the state’s best.
That gamble paid off Saturday as the Vikings swept their way through the 6A state tournament, capping their championship run with a 3-1 win over three-time defending state champ Owyhee at Memorial Stadium.
“We’ve had the mentality that you have to think you’re the best to be the best,” Middleton sophomore pitcher Kellen Viehweg said. “And 6A is the best to be in, so we just wanted to be there competing with the best people, competing for the highest state title that we can.”
Middleton (23-4) spent the past two seasons banging on the door of a title in the state’s top division. Two years of state tournament heartbreak might convince many to drop down and try their hand at a lower level. But Middleton coach Bryan Swygart said his players never considered any other path.
“This is where we belong, and this is where we’re going to stay,” Swygart said. “To petition up and stay and do it, it takes a lot. It takes a lot of nerve. It takes a lot of gusto. And our kids wouldn’t take it any other way.”
[Related: Baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
Middleton jumped out early in wins over Coeur d’Alene and Mountain View in the tournament’s first two rounds. But the Vikings had to remain patient in Saturday’s championship game.
Sophomore pitcher Kellen Viehweg shut down Owyhee’s potent lineup through six-plus innings. The right-hander needed just 61 pitches to hand the ball over to closer Boomer Collins in the seventh. Viehweg finished the afternoon giving up just one run on four hits while striking out four, quickly working his way through the Storm (28-4) lineup and sending the Vikings back to the plate.
“He was the most efficient I’ve ever seen him,” Middleton junior catcher Drew Holman said. “He’s just a sophomore, so we’ve got big things ahead for him. But he was just a completely different animal today. They had no shot because he was just locked in from the first pitch.”
With Viehweg tossing up zeroes on the scoreboard, Middleton opened the scoring in the third inning when Collins ripped a triple into the right-field corner. He then baited Owyhee third baseman Christian Zannitto to hold onto a slow roller, and scored when he finally threw wide to first base.
Owyhee tied the game on Cade Walker’s RBI single in the fourth inning, but Jeremiah Keithley drove in the game-winning run in the fifth to erase an ugly start to the game.
Keithley grounded into inning-ending double plays in his first two at-bats. But he stepped up when his team needed him the most, cranking a double over center fielder Easton Price’s head to drive in Cam Lenius.
Owyhee added an insurance run in the seventh on Holman’s unconventional squeeze bunt. Owyhee pitcher Kaleb Doty charged the plate as he saw Holman square up, but Holman popped the ball over his head to the backside of the mound to bring home Collins.
The Storm threatened one last rally, putting the tying run on first base in the bottom of the seventh. But Collins forced a ground ball, and second baseman Jedsen Aldrich turned the double play to clinch Middleton’s fourth state title — and its first in Idaho’s top classification.
Middleton stormed the field, finally exorcising its state tournament demons. The Vikings entered each of the past two state tournaments with championship dreams only to leave without any hardware. But with a state championship banner to hang, those disappointments are just distant memories.
“To be honest, it still hasn’t set in yet,” Holman said. “To this program and all the players that are in it, it just means the world.”
MOUNTAIN VIEW FINISHES THIRD AGAIN: The Mavericks brought home the third-place trophy for a third straight season after a 2-1 loss to Owyhee earlier Saturday.
Mountain View (22-12) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Ryder Hollifield scored on a wild pitch. But Owyhee rallied in the sixth when Cade Walker ripped a hit-and-run triple into the right field corner. He also scored the game-winning run on the play as the relay throw sailed over catcher Tav Hiaring’s head.
Freshman Cooper Schneidt led the Mavericks with a 2-for-4 day that included a double, and Carson Lupton also doubled.
IDAHO 5A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
[Related: 5A baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
BONNEVILLE RALLIES FOR TITLE: The Bees won three straight games Saturday for their first state title since 2019, edging Twin Falls 7-6 on a walk-off hit by pitch in the decisive final game of the double-elimination tournament at The College of Idaho’s Wolfe Field.
Bonneville (28-4) scratched out three runs in the bottom of the seventh for the dramatic ending. Carter Bowen beat out a possible game-ending double play to bring in the tying run. Coltan Spagnuolo then turned into a pitch to drive in Jadon Cervantes for the game-winning run.
VALLIVUE TAKES THIRD: Bonneville erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to trigger the mercy rule in a 12-2 victory over the Falcons (26-5), who brought home their best state tournament trophy since 2002, when they also finished third.
Bonneville pitchers Carter Bowen and Lincoln Stuart held Vallivue to two hits to advance to the championship round. Eli Daniel went 1-for-2 with a double, and Connor Payne also finished 1-for-2.
IDAHO 4A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
[Related: 4A baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
SUGAR-SALEM REPEATS: Only one team beat Fruitland all season. And the Diggers did it twice, wrapping up their second straight state title with a 9-5 win over the Grizzlies at Melaleuca Field in Idaho Falls.
Ben Aldrich ripped a two-run home run and Dawson McInelly added a solo bomb for Sugar-Salem (22-4). The Diggers opened the game with three runs in the bottom of the first, then briefly trailed before erupting for five runs in the fourth.
Rain delayed the championship game in the second inning, and officials called the game after six complete innings.
Fruitland (28-2) was led by Nate Grosvenor, who went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Titus Vidlak, who also doubled.
IDAHO 3A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
[Related: 3A baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
MALAD CROWNED CHAMPS: The fourth-seeded Dragons broke loose with six runs in the third inning and hung on for an 8-6 win over Nampa Christian to capture their second state championship in three years at Rodeo Park in Nampa.
Carter Carey and Cale Briggs each tallied one-run singles in the decisive inning. But the Dragons (25-6) also took advantage of a two-run error, a hit by pitch and a walk to hang runs on the scoreboard.
Nampa Christian whittled away at the five-run deficit but its comeback ran out of time. Brayden Schaefer led the Trojans (21-7-1) at the plate with a double and three RBIs, and Ben Knudson went 2-for-3 with a triple.
MARSING BRINGS HOME TROPHY: Nampa Christian’s Kaden Mullins’ RBI triple in the top of the seventh finally broke a tie, ending the Huskies’ season with a 5-4 loss and a third-place finish at the state tournament.
Luke Steinmeyer provided the highlight of the day for Marsing (19-8) with a three-run double and a 4-2 lead in the second inning. Levi Puga also added a triple.
IDAHO 2A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
[Related: 2A baseball state playoff scores, brackets]
KENDRICK WINS ANOTHER TITLE: The Tigers (21-5) completed a sweep of football, boys basketball and baseball championships Saturday by holding on for a 2-1 win over Potlatch at Orofino High.
Potlatch (22-5) threatened a late rally with Logan Carpenter’s run-scoring fielder’s choice in the bottom of the seventh. But Gunnar Holland retired the final batter for Kendrick’s first baseball state title since 2017.
This story was originally published May 17, 2025 at 6:28 PM.
