Twins wade through to trip Nampa

A few dozen local fans who weathered the rain and stayed until the finish were rewarded for their loyalty at close to 11 p.m. Saturday on a soggy Harris Field as the Lewis-Clark Twins pulled away to top the Nampa Chiefs 13-8 in Dwight Church Memorial tournament round-robin play.

Heading into the tournament’s final day, the Twins (8-4) are in second place, having won three of their four games for the week. They return to action today at 3 p.m. against the Spokane Expos, with a win in that contest set to guarantee them a spot in the championship round and a second crack at the Benz Boys of Seattle, who defeated them 11-1 earlier in the tournament and have gone unbeaten.

Saturday’s schedule had already been backed up significantly by rain delays, and the Twins-Nampa game, which had originally been slated for 5 p.m. but did not get underway until after 8, was also paused repeatedly to maintain playing conditions. It was slow going with little to separate the teams through most of the game as both struggled defensively, failing to make critical catches and plays and watching an average of one to two runners find their way home in either half of each frame.

The steady drizzle that had persisted for most of the first few innings died down late, while the Twins’ bats came alive.

“I mean, that’s baseball,” L-C coach Kevin Maurer said. “Both teams dealing with the rain and slippery balls, I think we both misplayed some balls. Baseball’s about being in the present, and you’ve got seven innings to figure out who’s going to be the winning team at the end, and if you can stay in that mindset of next-play next-pitch mentality, you have an opportunity to come back in games, overcome mistakes that were made early and come out on top in the end.”

A three-RBI triple from Brice Bensching to go ahead 10-7 in the bottom of the fifth opened up a lasting scoreboard separation, which was cemented by a two-RBI triple from Cruz Hepburn in the next frame. Hepburn stole home off a wild pitch for the night’s final score.

“It was a good win,” Hepburn said. “Me and all the team, we were just trying to stay focused the whole game, keep that laser focus, attack good pitches.”

The Twins’ most efficient batter for the night was Elliott Taylor, who went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, two RBI and three stolen bases. Taking advantage of a number of overthrown passes and fumbles, L-C stole nine bases.

“It was a good outcome,” Taylor said. “We started off a little slow, a little non-energetic. Once the bats picked up, the whole team’s energy started to pick up and really fired the team up.”

The Twins, who have been doing field maintenance work throughout the tournament, will continue that task in shifts tomorrow morning and early afternoon ahead of their showdown with the Expos, who defeated the Spokane Crew 6-4 earlier Saturday and sit at 2-2 for the tournament.

“This tournament is a grind,” Maurer said. “I set it up as such, where you’re guaranteed five games in three days and a potential sixth game if you make it to that title game. Our players are here every day working the field.

“…I’ve thought they’ve done one heck of a job heading into Sunday. If we win, we’re in that championship game.”

Nampa 112 211 0— 8 7 2

Lewis Clark 312 043 x—13 10 3

Josh Martin, Lizandro Pina (5) and Ricky Perez; Hayden Line, Devon Blackwell (4) and Jake Feger, Tyler Granlund (4). W—Line; L—Marin.

Nampa hits — Perez 2, Ritey, Jacob Scott, Dante Avjiam, Benji Jorgenson, Zack Lerdall.

Lewis-Clark hits — Elliott Taylor 2 (2B, 3B), Cruz Hepburn 2 (3B), Jack Johnson 2, Brice Bensching (3B), Quinton Edmison, Chris Ricard, Feger.