What appeared to be a comfortable victory for the Lewis-Clark Twins fell to pieces in the ninth inning, as the Spokane Expos struck for seven runs to tie it.
Then Spokane pushed across the winning run in the 10th to complete a stunning rally for a 10-9 nonleague American Legion baseball win over the Twins on Monday evening at Harris Field.
L-C led 9-2 going into the final frame of this planned nine-inning game. But the Expos suddenly came alive with seven hits in the inning and managed to forge an unlikely tie.
In the 10th, Spokane's Jared Smith smacked a double, then came home on Jack Machtolf's single. There was a throw home that could have possibly gotten Smith, but it was a bit off target.
"Hats off to them for putting up that kind of rally," Twins assistant coach Kevin Maurer said of the Expos, who improved to 31-6. "It just goes to show that we still have a lot of work to do."
L-C (15-15) had a chance to tie it in the bottom of the 10th, with a man on second and two outs. Josh Moore, who was 5-for-5 at the time, came up to bat, but he smacked a grounder to the shortstop that ended the game.
Jessup Scott added four hits, two of them doubles, for L-C while Tyler Gay and Dalton Stamper added two hits apiece.
The Twins, who didn't go too deep into their pitching staff with a packed schedule looming this week, will play host to Lakeland tonight in a doubleheader that will start at 5 p.m.
Spokane Expos 010 001 007 1-10 18 3
Lewis-Clark Twins 201 000 510 0- 9 15 3
Schmidt, Strelzoff (7), Cherry (9) and Lee. Woods, Robinson (7), Jensen (7) and Scott.
Spokane hits - Rathbone, Setian 2, Bowdish, Kurucz, Smith 3 (2B), Machtolf 3 (2B), Bailey 4 (2B), Lee (2B), Krupla 2 (2-2B).
Twins hits - Scott 4 (2-2B), Gay 2, Moore 5, Tibbits, Jones, Stamper 2.
Bus trouble scrubs Cubs' games
You've heard of the sports cliche "the wheels fell off." What about "the door fell off"?
That's what happened to the Lewis-Clark Cubs on Monday - literally. The Cubs were leaving Lewiston for a league doubleheader at Coeur d'Alene when the back door of their bus fell off as they drove down Main Street, coach Cody Weiss said.
The back area of the bus is where the Cubs keep their gear, so the accident didn't put any players or coaches in danger. But with no door on the back of the bus, the Cubs opted to postpone their doubleheader with Coeur d'Alene. No makeup date has been set, Weiss said.
"I think it was just one of those freak things," Weiss said of the door falling off. "I guess it's time to get it fixed."
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Cougs get plenty of home dates
PULLMAN - The Washington State men's basketball team will play eight home nonconference games this coming season, four against teams that made the 2015 postseason.
Second-year Cougars coach Ernie Kent announced the schedule Monday. It features three more home nonconference games than WSU had last season.
The Cougars' season opener will be Nov. 13 at home against Northern Arizona. They will also play host to Idaho State (Nov. 20), Cal State Los Angeles (Nov. 24), Texas Southern (Nov. 28), Gonzaga (Dec. 2) and Portland State (Dec. 6).
WSU won't play a road game until visiting Idaho on Dec. 10. The Cougars will also travel to Honolulu for the Diamond Head Classic.
WSU's first Pac-12 action comes at home Dec. 30 against UCLA and Jan. 3 against USC.
Before all of that, the Cougars will play host to exhibition games against Lewis-Clark State on Oct. 30 and Pacific on Nov. 6.
