Ejection, walk-off and nail-biters: How 4 teams advanced at 6A SIC baseball tourney
The top seeds all advanced in the first round of the 6A District Three baseball tournament. But calling their victories Tuesday expected or easy doesn’t come close to the truth.
It took a controversial call, a surprise sophomore, a walk-off double and a last-minute nail-biter for Middleton, Owyhee, Eagle and Mountain View to stay in the hunt for a district championship.
The top four seeds move on to Thursday’s all-important semifinal round at Timberline. Winning a semifinal doesn’t just send a team to the district finals. It clinches the victor a spot in the regional round and the right to host one of those three-team tournaments.
6A SIC DISTRICT SEMIFINALS
- No. 1 Owyhee (19-5) vs. No. 4 Middleton (17-8), 4 p.m.
- No. 2 Eagle (17-5) vs. No. 3 Mountain View (18-4), 6:30 p.m.
MIDDLETON 4, CENTENNIAL 1: It took five innings. But the dam finally broke for the Vikings, thanks in part to a controversial call that went their way.
Middleton stranded 12 base runners and put a runner on first and second base in every frame. But Braxton Ostler drew a bases-loaded walk to break the tie, and then Jedsen Aldrich drove a sinking liner into left field that turned into a two-run single after the dust settled and Centennial (14-11) coach Brian Champion earned himself an ejection.
Centennial left fielder Joaquin Moreno charged for the line drive and tried to make a sliding, backhanded catch. The ball glanced off the heel of his glove, and he quickly rolled over the loose ball, grabbed it and tossed it into the infield.
Umpires originally ruled it an inning-ending catch. But they overturned the call after a conference and counted a pair of runs that crossed home plate during the confusion.
Champion was ejected while arguing the call.
“It’s a game of inches, and it happened to be right there,” Middleton coach Bryan Swygart said. “You know, luck is on our side.”
The three-run cushion proved more than enough for the Vikings, who dodged their own bases-loaded jam an inning earlier thanks to Colton Brink. The sophomore made his first relief appearance of the season Tuesday. And he proved a quick study to the fireman role, needing just six pitches to strand all three runners with a pair of fielder’s choices.
Brink finished the night with three scoreless innings to his name, scattering two hits to record the win.
“Incredible poise,” Middleton senior catcher Drew Holman said. “I mean, he’s a sophomore, and he came in like he’s been there before. … You look at him on the mound, he’s calm, cool, collected, just ready to compete.”
OWYHEE 10, BORAH 1: The top-seeded Storm gambled and handed the ball to Owen Plue. And the sophomore pitcher delivered in his first start of the season.
The right-hander held the Lions to one run on two hits through four innings to pick up the win, marking the latest step in his comeback from a hip injury that sidelined him all winter and limited him to 6 ⅔ innings entering the district tournament.
Plue didn’t show many signs of that long rehab Tuesday. He struck out three and gave up his only run in the fourth inning thanks to a pair of sacrifices. But perhaps most importantly, his outing allowed the Storm to save their top arms as Owyhee tries to defend its district title.
“He’s been building his way back up,” Owyhee coach Matt Rasmussen said. “He had a couple JV appearances and has been throwing bullpens. He threw live to our hitters the other day, and he looked like he was back to where he was last summer.
“So we knew the guy that threw strikes and threw two pitches could keep us in the game.”
Plue’s outing gave Owyhee enough time to find its swing. The Storm led 3-1 after he exited the game before erupting for seven runs in its final two trips to the plate to run away with a first-round victory.
Shelby Pease led Owyhee’s 13-hit onslaught, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Jack Booth added a 3-for-3 afternoon with two RBIs, and Brooks Romer finished 3-for-4 with two more RBIs.
The loss drops Borah into the losers’ bracket where the 12th-seeded Lions take on seventh-seeded Centennial at 4 p.m. Thursday at Fort Boise.
EAGLE 5, BOISE 4: A disastrous third inning put the second-seeded Mustangs on the brink of a trip to the losers’ bracket. But Eagle chipped away until Sam Palfreyman ripped a walk-off double to center field in the bottom of the seventh to complete the comeback at Fort Boise.
Eagle ace Dallin Snooks struggled in the third, committing a two-run error on a bunt before walking in a run to end his afternoon on the mound. Reliever Jacob Ames then walked in another run, putting Eagle into a 4-2 deficit to 11th-seed Boise.
But the Mustangs plated a single run in fifth, sixth and seventh innings to mount the rally. Easton Gothberg tied the game with a groundball single up the middle in the sixth, and Boise couldn’t record a single out in the seventh before Palfreyman’s walk-off double.
The loss drops Boise (11-15) into the losers’ bracket, where it hosts Ridgevue at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
MOUNTAIN VIEW 7, RIDGEVUE 6: The Mavericks staved off a late rally behind a clutch defensive play and the arm of Preston Flournoy.
Ridgevue’s Hazen Hill lined a two-run single up the middle in the top of sixth to cut the deficit to one run. But Mountain View first baseman Braylon Schellhammer cut Hill down trying to advance to second base, and Flournoy shut the door from there.
After allowing those two inherited runners to score, the senior tossed two scoreless innings of relief, striking out three while giving up just one hit.
Mountain View took control of the game early with a five-run second inning highlighted by Beckham Hatfield’s two-run double to left field. But eighth-seeded Ridgevue (10-11) pulled within one run twice before falling.
This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 11:14 PM.
