Maniacs take title

This story was published in the May 24, 1992, edition of the Lewiston Tribune.

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Because Ray Fuentes had command of his curveball, Orofino had its first high school baseball championship.

And the Maniacs knew how to celebrate.

“We just dogpiled Ray,” said catcher Tom Eichert after Orofino, behind Fuentes’ masterful mound performance, edged New Plymouth 4-2 to win the Idaho A-3/A-4 baseball title.

“When we won the (American) Legion championship (in 1991) we just kind of stood around,” said Eichert, one of 10 seniors for 26-2 Orofino who accepted the first place trophy Saturday afternoon at Lewis-Clark State’s Harris Field. “But when this one was over, we all headed right for Ray.”

Fuentes was rightfully the target of his teammates’ affection. The junior right-hander, who came on in relief for Trapper Stewart in the second inning with Orofino trailing 1-0, proceeded to dose down the Pilgrims with 11 strikeouts while limiting them to three hits in the final 5⅔ innings.

“My curve was working, and Tom (Eichert) kept calling so I kept throwing it,” said Fuentes, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player. “My arm felt good, so it was just a matter of getting the ball over the plate.”

For the Maniacs, who presented an emotional Bo Cummings with his first state title in 15 years of coaching, it was simply a matter of providing Fuentes with defensive support while waiting for their bats to come alive.

New Plymouth pitcher mesmerized the Orofino lineup early on, holding the Maniacs hitless until left fielder Dan Burnham scratched an infield single with two out in the third inning.

“We knew we’d come around,” said Cummings, whose ballclub was able to maximize four hits with help of four critical New Plymouth errors. “We just didn’t want to get into too deep of a hole.”

Suspecting that New Plymouth would have trouble making contact with curveballs, Cummings instructed his battery to concentrate on breaking-ball pitches.

That spelled trouble for Stewart, who has had trouble as of late keeping his curve over the plate. And when the junior did find the strike zone, his offerings were usually belted sharply back to the mound.

Stewart gave up two hits and a walk in the first inning — including an RBI single by J.D. Tucker — and had runners on first and second through a walk and an infield error before giving way to Fuentes.

Fuentes, who went the distance in Orofino’s 13-1 five-inning victory over Wilder in Thursday’s opening round, came on and struck out eight of the next 11 batters he faced, including five straight.

Meanwhile, he helped put Orofino on the board in the fourth inning, driving in the tying run with a two-out double through the left-center field gap.

After Fuentes (7-0) pitched his way out of a two-on-with-none-out jam in the fifth, Orofino picked up two runs in the bottom of the frame on two Hooper wild pitches, an infield error and Tig Cornell’s RBI single off the glove of shortstop Troy Bidwell.

Brandon Thompson reached on Hooper’s throwing error in the sixth and advanced to second on a groundout, where Mike Kessinger came in to pinch run. Kessinger moved around on consecutive wild pitches to put Orofino up 4-1.

Cummings, sensing Fuentes might be tiring, took the precaution of warming up Thompson in case he needed relief in the seventh.

Fuentes did give up two hits in the final frame, including an RBI double by Bidwell, who was gunned down trying to advance to third. But Fuentes then worked Hooper to a one-ball, two-strike count, before catching the Pilgrim on a curve over the outside corner for the final out.

“(Fuentes) pitched a great game, especially when we had guys on,” said New Plymouth coach Gary Jones, whose team got to the tournament as an at-large seed. “He had us standing up there looking.”

New Plymouth, which actually outhit Orofino 5-4, finished its season at 20-4.

Fuentes was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow Maniacs Eichert, Stewart and Cornell; Hooper, Tucker, Bidwell and Kris Baumann of New Plymouth; Cade Konen and Mike Ogle of Kendrick; Kevin Barger of Grangeville; Tony Uranga and Josh Hays of Homedale; and Shelby Hill of Teton.

“You begin to wonder if you’ll ever win the big one, then everything finally comes together and you have it,” said Cummings, whose team had twice finished second in the A-2 state tournament before dropping a classification this year.

“Thankfully we pulled all the right strings. We waited for this for a long time but it was worth it."