Broncos baseball preps for top league competitors

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos baseball team played their first two doubleheaders of the season and are now more comfortable with their positions on the field.

The Broncos took on Wilbur-Creston for their opening doubleheader of the season on March 23 here in Ritzville.

They split the series starting off with a 5-4 win over the Wildcats and ending with a 6-18 loss.

In this first game Wilbur-Creston took an early 2-1 lead after the first inning, but in the bottom of the third inning the Broncos fought back to lead 4-3.

While the Wildcats tied the game in the sixth Easton Nelson hit an RBI in the bottom of the seventh to bring Garrett Frederick in with the winning run.

Bryce Kelly was 2 for 2 in the game with a bunt to bring in the first run of the game and a single in the bottom of the seventh to move Frederick to third.

Brandon McClure was 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Nelson and McClure pitched this first game with Spencer Miller behind the plate.

Head Coach Jason Aldrich was pleased to see his young team coming from behind to secure the win in this first game.

The team executed well offensively and in the last play of the game were able to move their lead off hitter around the bases into scoring position and bring him home. Aldrich stated they work on these things in practice and he was happy to see it applied in the game.

The second game versus the Wildcats took off to a bad start for the Broncos with 10 walks leading to a nine run lead at the end of the first for Wilbur-Creston.

The Broncos racked up 12 errors in this game with four of them in the seventh inning as Wilbur-Creston scored their final five runs ending in a 6-18 loss.

Chandler Widman, Bryce Kelly, Nelson, McClure and Bryce Hansen each had a hit during this game. Most of these were RBIs including Cole Cameron with a sacrifice fly to bring in a runner.

Hansen, Kelly, Frederick and Camden Smith were all able to spend time on the mound. Aldrich said a few of them struggled more than others and gave up walks, while the defense also struggled to make plays behind them resulting in their 12 errors.

After splitting this first doubleheader the Broncos then hosted the St. George’s Dragons on Saturday, March 26. St. George’s had played four games prior to traveling to Ritzville and are predicted to be a top league competitor.

The Broncos lost both games to St. George’s. They were ten-runned in the first with a final score of 1-11 but in the second match they forced a full seven innings from the Dragons and the score was 4-12.

The team only put out two hits, one from Nelson and one from Kelly. Zach Steele, pitcher for the Dragons, struck out 10 Broncos and only allowed five base runners.

Nelson pitched four innings and Frederick closed the last inning on the mound.

Aldrich said the second game showed fight from his young team as they did not allow St. George’s to ten run them. While he said it did not feel good for the team to be beat twice, they were glad they made St. George’s play the whole seven innings in the last game.

The Dragons took off to an early lead bringing the score to 12-0 at the top of the fifth but the Broncos took to the plate and added four runs to the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning to prevent the game from ending.

Nelson went 2-4 on the plate with 2 RBIs and McClure was 3-4. Kelly went 1-4 in this second game while Frederick was 2-4 and Chris Dean was 1-3.

Numerous Broncos were able to pitch during this game as well: Smith, McClure, Kelly, Frederick and then McClure once again.

The team now has a 1-3 record but Aldrich said they are working hard and soaking up knowledge of how to play the game, while working the skills necessary to do just this.

While they may not win every game, the young team is gaining the experience needed to excel in the future. They are also building the confidence to take a more aggressive stance on the field.

Looking further into the schedule they do not have any rest with a game versus Northwest Christian on Tuesday, March 28. Aldrich has the team going out and just giving it all they have.

He told them to get better every day and compete hard and they will get where they need to be.

After this game the Broncos will host back to back double headers April 2 versus Kettle Falls and April 9 versus Colfax both beginning at 12 p.m.