Boys of summer make return

After a bleak run for Lewis-Clark valley American Legion baseball in 2021, things could be once more trending in the right direction as the 2022 season gets underway.

Last year’s Lewis-Clark Twins suffered a brutal losing streak to start the season, going 0-15 before they found a win against a Centralia team in late June. The current team already has averted any such disastrous start to its campaign, sitting at 3-3 after besting the Walla Walla Bears in a doubleheader Wednesday.

“We brought back a lot of depth,” Twins coach Kevin Maurer said. “A lot of guys who experienced last year; a lot of guys who put a lot of work in the offseason. We put a few new pieces into this year’s squad. We have a lot of depth — where last year we only had around 13, (we have) 18 guys this year.”

The biggest name on the Twins’ roster is Cruz Hepburn, a Lewiston High School graduate and multi-sport star who originally pledged to play college baseball for Washington in August 2020 before switching to a football commitment with UI earlier this year, then changed course again in May to sign with the Lewis-Clark State’s vaunted baseball program. The 6-foot-2 shortstop began to build rapport on the field in summer 2021 with Genesee standout and Twins second baseman Jack Johnson, and Maurer feels this year’s team should be “really strong up the middle” with the two cooperating.

Other leaders include sophomore pitcher Carson Kolb, who built experience starting much of last season, and big-hitting Chris Ricard, who won Class 5A Inland Empire League MVP honors playing for the Bengals this spring. The Twins’ AA league currently consists only of themselves and the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen, so they have looked to book a strong nonleague schedule. Their next stop comes in an area-rivalry doubleheader with the AAA Palouse Patriots (2-1) at Pullman’s Quann Field today.

“Everything we went through as a team built us for this season, and so we get an opportunity to go out there and all prove it together,” Maurer said.

The Twins’ junior partners, the Single-A Lewis-Clark Cubs, have followed a similar trajectory. After a badly losing 2021, the Cubs are off to a 3-2-1 start this year.

“We had a really young team last year,” Cubs coach Kent Knigge said. “We’ve got a really young team this year, but we’ve got a great infusion of young players here in the community that have joined the program this year that are competing.”

Starting Clarkston catcher Emmett Slagg, who was voted the Norbert Heitmann Merit Award winner by his fellow players last season, is a returning leader for the Cubs. Knigge said fellow Clarkston delegate Trace Green is another “great leader for us so far this year.” Among their promising newcomers are the likes of 15-year-old catcher Race Currin and 14-year-old Mason Way, a younger brother of former LCSC shortstop Riley Way.

“I think we’re seeing the group that stayed the course, continued to practice continued to play on their own,” Knigge said. “In my opinion, our pipeline is full of awesome young talent coming through the system, and I think we’re going to rise again. This program is going to rise again and be competitive.”

The Cubs’ three victories so far include an 8-0 shutout against the Asotin County Blues, who were playing the first game since their program was resurrected after several years of dormancy. The Blues (0-1) are set for a doubleheader against the AA Pullman Posse (1-1) in another early-season area clash Tuesday.

Other area single-A Legion teams include the Camas Prairie Zephyrs out of Grangeville and the Orofino Merchants, who sport matching 1-1 records after splitting a doubleheader against each other to open the season.

Because of a shortage of players, the Moscow Blue Devils were unable to field a team this year.

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or cwendt@lmtribune.com.