Lewiston beats Clarkston in inaugural ‘Battle for the Bats’

In the inaugural “Battle for the Bats” against Clarkston, Lewiston’s pitching only allowed one hit en route to earning the baseball rivalry’s golden bat trophy and having the entire team sign a purple baseball.

The Bengals beat the Clarkston Bantams 10-0 on Thursday at Lewis-Clark State’s Harris Field.

In the season opener for both teams, the Bengals (1-0) had an emphatic lead for the entirety of the game over the Bantams (0-1). They opened up the first inning scoring three runs, had a break during the second inning and then scored at least one run in each inning for the rest of the matchup and finished the game due to the 10-run rule.

Lewiston’s pitching

Lewiston’s pitching decided the game. The staff only allowed one hit the entire game and only walked one batter.

Zack Bambacigno started the game, pitched the first three innings and earned the win. Bambacigno let up the lone hit of the ball game and allowed a walk. He also had four total strikeouts during his outing.

Lewiston coach Darren Trainor said that the pitching was crucial to the win.

“Our pitchers, (Jayden) Estlund and Bambacigno — Bambacigno from the start (pounded) the zone with great tempo,” Trainor said. “He did a phenomenal job of locating three pitches. The mentality on the mound for both of those guys tonight was awesome. That got our defense settled in, got us comfortable.”

Estlund entered the ballgame during the fourth inning and had a perfect outing. Estlund did not allow a single hit or walk any batter. He also had two strikeouts during his two innings.

Trainor compared pitching to the offensive line in football. He said if a football team does not have an offensive line it is bound to fail. That is similar to pitching in baseball.

“If you don’t have an offensive line, it’s pretty tough to get it going (in football). Same thing on the mound,” Trainor said. “They’re the backbone of the team. The guys going on the mound, shoving strikes with tempo — that plays into our defense and we want to put pressure on opposing hitters.”

At the plate, Ty Collins and Brighton Schumacher scored two runs apiece and Tucker Green had a double.

Clarkston struggles

Aside from Clarkston’s hitting woes, errors were a large contribution to its loss against Lewiston.

The Bantams had five total errors in the game. The defense was unable to play well in the difficult situations the Bengals put them in.

Clarkston pitching struggled with accuracy. It gave up a total of eight walks including hitting five separate players with a pitch.

Clarkston coach Taylor Marshall said that errors are something they are going to work on eliminating going forward.

“We have to try and create pressure situations in practice. Lewiston did such a good job of putting the ball in play, making us make the tough plays. So just getting back to practice, putting some pressure on them, creating tough situations and continuing to work it,” Marshall said. “If we want to play in some big games this year, this is how it’s going to feel. So we gotta emulate that in practice.”

Although the Bantams struggled, Marshall said that they need to focus on the positives. He said they need to look at what they did well today and carry that with them into their next game.

Marshall said that they have to look to the future and not let the negatives drag them down.

“A lot of it is positive because we played earlier this week and didn’t play with a lot of heart and didn’t play with a lot of passion,” Marshall said. “So today, we really challenged our guys to come out and play hard and have passion in it. Obviously we didn’t score any runs, it didn’t look good, but it felt better. We had guys that were really going for it, really trying hard.”

Battle for the Bats begins

This matchup of Lewiston and Clarkston was deemed “Battle for the Bats,” a new name for the rivalry that was created to celebrate the game of baseball and to celebrate the community.

Both coaches raved about the atmosphere and the fans in the stands during this game. The stands were brimming with fans at a mostly packed Harris Field.

“This is a great, great atmosphere. A phenomenal community came out tonight. It was a great crowd,” Trainor said.

Marshall noted the fans that traveled for the game from Clarkston to Harris Field. He said that it was impressive and important to have their fans in the stands.

“This was great, seeing so many fans here. Lewiston fans show up quite often, but to see our side pretty full, I think that’s a real testament to the valley, showing up and supporting us. This was probably one of the bigger crowds we’ve had for this game. Thanks to the fans for that.”

Clarkston 000 00—0 1 5

Lewiston 304 21—10 4 1

Hayden Line, Jace Cometto (3), Tyler Wood (5) and Gillis Simpson; Zack Bambacigno, Jayden Estlund (4) and Peyton Bonebrake. W — Bambacigno; L — Line.

Clarkston hits — Gillis Simpson.

Lewiston hits — Tucker Green (2B), Guy Krasselt, Brighton Schumacher, Peyton Bonebrake.

Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @TrevorJunt.