COEUR D'ALENE - On their recent drive to Coeur d'Alene, the Lewis-Clark Twins no doubt had time to think.
So during that two hour drive, they likely relived their last game against the Lumbermen.
And in addition to thinking about that 10-run rule loss Lewis-Clark suffered just several days earlier to their bitter rivals, something the Twins would probably rather not have spent time doing, the bus-bound baseballers no doubt ruminated over just what was at stake this time around.
If they beat the hosts twice in one day on Saturday, the Twins would usurp the Lumbermen for first in the league.
"It gets your mindset right," Lewis-Clark coach Kevin Maurer said of the heated situation his team stepped into, on a day which brought plenty of literal heat as well.
From out of that furnace, the Twins forged two pressure-cooked victories.
The scores with 5-2 and 5-4.
Onto the postseason, L-C (28-9, 5-3) will face the winner of an earlier matchup between the Lumbermen and the district tournament hosts on Thursday in Post Falls when District play begins. That is, after the Twins wrap up their regular season with a home doubleheader Monday against Walla Walla.
Helping his team take the No. 1 seed into the postseason, the Twins' Luke White hit a tie-breaking three-run homer that proved the difference in his team's twinbill opening win against C'dA.
"In that home run count, he popped the ball up but the catcher missed it," Maurer said of what later proved a crucial missed opportunity by the hosts against White, "so (White) got another opportunity and great hitters do something with that opportunity.
"And then (pitcher Julian) Washburn did the rest."
In the second game, the teams were knotted at four when Danny Robinson hit a sacrifice fly to bring White home from third for what proved the game-winner in the final frame.
"You can't ask for better team baseball," Maurer said, referencing the strategically hard groundout on play earlier by Chase Adkison to advance White from second to third. "They knew the situation, knew what they needed to do and they all took advantage of it."
Also key in that second game for the Twins was a web gem by short stop Riley Way which stranded two Lumbermen on base.
"Riley did his best Michael Jordan impression, he was able to fly up in the air and snag a baseball and doubled the guy off at second," Maurer said. "Incredible man. You don't see that out of too many high school athletes; he's able to do a lot of special things."
First Game
Lewis-Clark 101 030 0-5 5 1
Coeur d'Alene 001 100 0-2 5 1
Julian Washburn and Chase Adkison. Brett Stapleton and Conner Conigliaro.
Twins hits - Riley Way (2B), Alex Light, Luke White 2 (2B, HR), Jaden Phillips.
Lumbermen hits - Levi Haen, Conigliaro, Stapleton, Matt Gjevre, Jack Bloom.
Second Game
Lewis-Clark 013 000 1-5 10 2
Coeur d'Alene 004 000 0-4 7 1
Kyle Van Boeyen, Luke White (5) and Nate Savolainen. Justin Bates and Kallen Langley.
Twins hits - Riley Way (2B), A.J. Davis, Jaden Phillips 2, Luke White (2B), Chase Adkison 2 (2-2B), Danny Robinson, Wyatt Baldwin, Alex Light.
Lumbermen hits - Haen, Langley, Stapleton 2, Bloom, Riley Alley.
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