Moscow Bears, Whitepine quartet primed for state baseball

May 17—Five area baseball teams are gearing up to take the diamond for state baseball tournament action, which begins today at the Idaho 1A ranks and Thursday for 4A Moscow.

Moscow, Clearwater Valley, Potlatch, Troy and Prairie will all represent the area at the end-of-the-season tourney.

Here's how each of them got there:

Bears claw in

When it comes to smaller leagues, as long as the best is saved for last, you'll have a chance at State.

That was the case for Moscow in the three-team 4A Inland Empire League.

The Bears started the year slow, going 2-8 in their first 10 games and 3-7 in their final 10. But just like the Bengals, Moscow found a way to get hot at the right time.

Moscow junior Levi Anderson sat down 10 Lakeland batters on May 6 in the Bears' 6-1 victory to earn a spot in the district championship game. The junior has been the Bears' ace throughout their end-of-year stretch.

Anderson has pitched 38 innings and retired 62 batters. Even more impressive, he's only walked 25 out of the 181 batters he's faced in 2023.

"He struggled a bit with confidence at first," Moscow baseball coach Griffin Rod said. "But the daily grind helped him stay on track. He brings out the best in people, and he's a guy that wants to be in clutch situations."

The other postseason standout has been Jack Driskill. The third baseman tallied three singles in Game 1 of the championship series against Sandpoint.

Driskill is a cool .411 at the plate with a team-high 30 hits.

The junior has been the cog that runs Moscow's offense, leading the Bears in nearly every offensive category, including RBI (14), stolen bases (14) and on-base percentage.

"He's one of the most fun competitors I've been around in a long time," Rod said. "He just has a knack for making things happen, and he is just so reliable."

Moscow enters the tournament as the No. 8 seed and will face Skyview at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Skip Walker Field in Twin Falls.

Whitepine League represent

No matter what sport, the Whitepine League always provides some of the best competition in the state.

Troy, Clearwater Valley, Potlatch and Prairie will all represent the league in the Idaho Class 1A state tournament.

Three out of the four teams that qualified for state come in with a 10-4 or better league record. The only exception to that rule is Potlatch, which was 12-9 overall and 7-7 in league action.

The Loggers notched a 3-0 win over Kendrick on May 10 in a district play-in game to earn a shot at the dance.

Potlatch won by relying on the arm of Jaxon Vowels. The junior pitched a no-hitter and finished with 14 strikeouts. The ace has been dealing all season, striking out 44 batters compared to just 12 walks.

The Loggers will play Glenns Ferry in the opening round of the tournament at noon on today at Church Field in Lewiston.

Potlatch's run at a district championship came to an end at the hands of the No. 1 seed during the tourney, Clearwater Valley.

The Rams downed the Loggers 12-9 in the opening round of the tournament. Clearwater Valley has been consistent at putting their league foes to rest — finishing 10-3 in Whitepine league action.

Whether it be close games or blowouts, the Rams have found a way to win games against their league opponents. Most of this has come from the entirety of their lineup being able to make contact.

"They're going out there and swinging for contact," Rams coach Josh Bradley said. "They're not going out there and swinging for the fences. You just have to choke up on the bat and make contact."

Clearwater Valley will be the No. 2 seed from the north and plays the No. 3 seed from the south, Horseshoe Bend, in the opening round at 6 p.m. today.

The Rams fell 20-8 in the district championship to Troy. The Trojans scored 13 runs in the bottom of the sixth to cap off the victory.

That victory earned Troy the No. 1 seed in the north and a date with Idaho City in the opening round at 9 a.m. today.

The Trojans came into the district tournament as the No. 3 seed, but the quality at-bats and work on the mound they got from senior Dominic Holden and junior Joseph Bendel got the job done.

Bendel enters the tournament as the Trojans' leader at the plate. He's batting a clean .438 at the plate and has three home runs on the season.

Holden has a 0.58 ERA and has done some solid work on the mound. He leads the entire league with 89 strikeouts and has allowed just 13 hits in 48 innings pitched.

Troy earned its way to the championship game after downing Prairie 9-0 in the opening round. The Pirates redeemed themselves in the third-place game, however, beating Potlatch 18-0 in five innings to improve their seeding.

They will play the No. 1 seed from the South, Vision Charter, at 3 p.m. today in the opening round.

Prairie led the Whitepine League in shutout victories with four and is led at the plate by Cody Kaschmitter, who has a .409 batting average with 14 hits.

Pixley may be contacted at (208) 848-2290, tpixley@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @TreebTalks.