Priest River baseball splits double header with Newport

When Priest River took on Newport in a doubleheader on Thursday at Priest River High School, it was a tale of two completely different games.

In Game One, The Grizzlies handled the Spartans 13-7. In Game 2, Priest River flipped the script and defeated Newport 11-4 after five innings played.

After the bottom of the first inning in Game 2, Priest River held a 4-2 edge over Newport.

In the top of the third, Ryder Brown hit an RBI double to bring home Nolan Loosier to cut Priest River’s lead to 5-4.

The Spartans were quick to respond with a six-run inning in the bottom of the fourth to make its one-run lead a seven-run lead.

Tyson Troudt got the party started by walking home after Newport pitcher Matt Kirkwood walked Kyle Patterson with loaded bases.

Kirkwood proceeded to hit Colton Brooks with a pitch, bringing home another runner.

Landon Reynolds then reached base after a Newport error resulting in Nadin Thompson scoring.

Freshman Merrick Isenberger drilled a two-run RBI single into center field to extend the Spartans lead to 10-4.

Isenberger was 4-for-7 at the plate throughout the doubleheader.

“He’s really starting to come along,” Priest River baseball coach Mark Schultz said. “It’s awesome for him to have two hits as a freshman.”

Reynolds capped off the scoring spree by stealing home.

Everett Hannah got the start on the mound in Game One for the Spartans and notched his second double-digit strikeout game of the season, striking out 11.

“He pounds the strike zone and right now he’s on top of his game,” Schultz said. “Out of his 86 pitches, 60 of them were strikes and that’s right around where you want to be.”

The senior also gave up five runs on seven hits and only walked two.

Newport scored one run in the top of the first inning, with both teams held scoreless in the second.

The Grizzlies went on a little four-run spurt in the top of the third to extend its lead to 5-0.

Newport scored a combined 12 runs in the third, sixth and seventh inning.

Priest River attempted to fight from behind with a four-run spurt of its own in the bottom sixth to cut its deficit to 8-5.

Newport had its highest scoring inning in the seventh, where it scored five runs to pad its lead to 13-5.

The Spartans struck out a total of 14 times, which was the story of the game, according to Schultz.

“We didn’t string enough runs together,” Schultz said. “We can’t strike out that many times.”

On the flip side, Schultz commended his team for their constant fight throughout the contest.

“That’s the nice thing about these guys is they never give up,” Schultz said. “We were down 8-1 and scored four runs. We played until the final out.”

Priest River moves to 2-5 on the season and will take a bit of a hiatus from the field for spring break and will be back on the field on Tuesday, April 12 with a doubleheader against Bonners Ferry.

GAME ONE

NEWPORT 104 003 5 — 13 11 1

PRIEST RIVER 000 104 2 — 7 6 3

Ryder Brown, Colton Seeber (4), Cain Crawford (6). Everett Hannah, Colton Brooks (6), and Tyson Troudt.

HITS: NP — Crawford 2, Seeber, Cain Loosier 3, KIrkwood 2. Brown 2, Carson Loosier. PR — Hannah, Patterson 2, Reynolds, Isenberger 2. 3B — Kirkwood. 2B — Brown.

GAME TWO

NEWPORT 202 00 — 4 4 3

PRIEST RIVER 410 6X — 11 5 3

Nolan Loosier, Matt Kirkwood (3). Nadin Thompson and Tyson Troudt.

HITS: NP — Crawford, N. Loosier, Brown, M. Kirkwood. PR — Troudt, Thompson, Reynolds, Isenberger 2.