TWINS WIN IN 10, RULE STATE

Jaden Phillips



Lewis-Clark outlasts Idaho Falls 3-2 to nab storied program's first state title since 2009

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - Lewis-Clark coach Kevin Maurer said he could see it in his team members' faces.Down two runs entering the eighth inning, the Twins never wavered in their belief. They knew they could rally, and they did.

The Twins downed Idaho Falls 3-2 in 10 innings Sunday in the Idaho AA Legion baseball tournament, capturing their 39th state title and their first since 2009.

Helping end that drought, the Twins' Jaden Phillips finished with two RBI on two singles, one of which tied the score in the eighth (and deflated Idaho Falls, in his coach's estimation), the second of which proved the game-winner in the top of the 10th, both coming with two outs.

In the bottom of the final frame, Twins closer AJ Davis fanned the first batter he faced, walked the second, then induced the third into a game-ending double play by throwing a tough pitch to hit.

"It was an 0-2 count, so I was just going to give him a curveball to either strike him out or get him to roll over to Jaden," Davis said of his third baseman, who started the final relay.

"As soon as I saw it," Phillips said of the final groundout right to him on two hops, "I knew that we were going to win the game."

On the final play, Phillips fired to second baseman Ryder Shoults, who then threw to first baseman Luke White, which led to baseball's most iconic celebration: a dogpile.

Davis' late sacrifice fly two innings earlier got the Twins (35-10) on the board and pulled them within a run, a difference they enjoyed thanks to another gutty performance.

Bouncing back from a rough third in which he gave up two runs, Twins starter Julian Washburn "straight manned up," in Maurer's words, giving Lewis-Clark just what it needed. In other words, scoreless innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames.

"(Julian's) going to always give you an opportunity to go out and win a ballgame - it doesn't matter if it's 20 degrees, or 110 degrees," Maurer said, alluding to the 95-degree temperatures in Twin Falls on Sunday.

Maurer couldn't stop raving about his team's pitching, going on to say just what Davis did.

"He retired eight straight guys," Maurer said of his closer from the seventh through the opening of the 10th, when Davis didn't give Idaho Falls "even an ounce of hope to score off us."

While Idaho Falls entered the tournament with just four losses all season, the southern Idaho squad had to fight just to reach the title game, defeating Mountain View earlier Sunday 1-0 and getting a second shot at Lewis-Clark in four days. The Twins shut out Idaho Falls earlier in the tournament behind another stalwart starter, Wyatt Baldwin.

The Twins now advance to the regional tournament starting Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. PDT in Missoula, Mont.

"It's just a tremendous group of players," Maurer said of his team, "that I'm blessed to coach."

Twins 000 000 020 1-3 9 1

Idaho Falls 002 000 000 0-2 6 1

Julian Washburn, A.J. Davis (7) and Chase Adkison. Thomas Alexander, Caden Anstounson (10) and Jace Jones.

Twins hits - Riley Way, Alex Light 2, Luke White, Jaden Phillips 2, Danny Robinson 2, Chris Powell (2B)
Idaho Falls hits - Reed Hutter, Andrew Gregerson (2B), Brandon Bialas (2B), Bridger Taylor, Randon Hostert, Bryson Tibbitts


AJ Davis

 

 

Julian Washburn