Riverdogs snag one win on road trip

They battled through a brief shortage of players, rainy, spring weather and some tough upper division opponents in what was a challenging week for the Clark Fork Valley Riverdogs.

And they emerged with one win and three losses, which is not bad for a team that started the week’s four-game road swing with the bare minimum of players to put on the field.

The Dogs opened the week in Sandpoint, Idaho with two of games this past Wednesday against the North Idaho Lakers.

After falling 9-1 in the opener, they rebounded and returned the favor, routing the Lakers 11-4.

Next up for the Riverdogs was a pair of games at a mini-tournament in Eureka. In that set of games, the Dogs led most of the way against the Kootenay Valley Rangers before a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning led to a tough 6-5 loss. In their second game of the day, Clark Fork fell behind early and could not overcome a large Missoula Impact lead as they were routed by a 21-8 score.

In the Sandpoint games versus North Idaho, an “A” Division club, the Dogs were without the services of four key players and had just nine players dressed and ready to play.

Coach Jon Zigler was not using the lack of players as an excuse for splitting the twinbill with the Lakers.

“We were missing four of our players and played with only nine guys and no substitues,” Zigler said. “It was a lonely bench”.

Among the players not available for the Sandpoint trip were starters Eli Ratliff, Beano Fisher and Bryson McCormick who were attending a Thompson Falls football camp, and Alessi Rolando, who was in California for a few days.

Despite the lack of players, the Dogs, behind some solid pitching by Jack Taylor in the early going, were tied with the Lakers 1-1 after three innings of play. The Dogs lone run was scored by Orion Plakke, who was two for three at the plate for the game, in the top of the second inning.

North Idaho broke that tie in the bottom of the fourth when they chased home two runs to go up 3-1. An inning later, the wheels fell off the bus for Clark Fork as the Lakers scored six times and chased Taylor from the mound in the bottom of the fifth.

The Dogs, who struggled at the plate early in the two-game day, could not get the bats going the rest of the way and fell to 15-12 on the season.

“We just couldn’t get our offense on track in game one,” coach Zigler said. “Taylor pitched really well early on but errors hurt us after that and we couldn’t rebound”.

They would get their revenge in the second game of the double-header.

Clark Fork wasted little time getting the bats going in that game, scoring five times in the top of the second to take a 5-0 lead. Once again the Dogs got solid pitching early on, this time from Nate Zigler, who struck out nine and surrendered just three hits in his five and two-thirds innings of work. Garth Parker came on in relief and allowed just one hit and no runs the rest of the way for the Dogs.

By the end of the fourth inning, Clark Fork held a 6-3 advantage, having plated a solo run in the top of the fifth. The home team chipped another run off the Clark Fork lead in their half of the sixth, but the Dogs erupted for five more runs in the top of inning number seven to take control of the game and secure a double-header split. The win boosted the Dogs season mark to 16-12.

Outfielder Tanner Day was three for three at the plate for Clark Fork and drove in a pair of runs in the 11-4 victory. Plakke, who has been torrid at the plate lately despite an injured hand, was three-for-five, while Kody Carter had a pair of RBIs for the Dogs.

Saturday the Dogs traveled to Eureka to take part in the four-team event where they took on the Kootenay Valley Rangers in the first of two games on the day.

Kootenay scored first with a single run in the bottom of the first inning. The Dogs came right back and plated a run of their own in the top of the second when Parker singled to drive in Taylor who was on base via a hit by pitch, then stole second to set up the Parker RBI.

Both teams were scoreless in the third and fourth innings. Kootenay scored once in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Clark Fork lead to 4-2.

Clark Fork came out swinging in the top of the sixth and drove two runs home via an RBI double by Plakke and a run-producing single off the bat of Zigler. That put the Dogs up 4-2.

The Dogs added another run in the top of the seventh when Taylor, who had doubled earlier, scored on a steal of home play.

But Kootenay was not done yet, and took advantage of some shaking pitching by Clark Fork’s Trevis McDonald who was on in relief of starter Page and walked a batter, gave up a single and loaded the bases when he hit the next batter. A two-run Dogs error cut their lead to 5-4. They added another run to tie the game at 5-5 on an RBI single.

The winning run for the Rangers crossed home plate via a Clark Fork error, ending the game in favor of Kootenay, 6-5.

In their final game of the week, the Dogs ran into a red-hot Missoula Impact team. The Impact jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first on a pair of run producing doubles and an RBI single.

Clark Fork struck back in the bottom of the first on a RBI double by Ratliff and a RBI single from Plakke, making it 5-2 at the end of one.

Both teams added a pair of runs in their half of the third inning, which ended with Missoula in front 7-4

Plakke had another RBI single in the third, as did Rolando.

Missoula then erupted for seven runs in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of a pair of hit batsmen, a two RBI double and a pair of run producing singles to go up 14-4.

Clark Fork scored three times in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 14-7, but the Impact tacked on another seven runs in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach.

The Dogs went out in order in the bottom of the seventh to wrap up their week of play with a 16-14 season mark.

Next up for the Dogs is a rematch double-header in Missoula with the Impact this Friday, followed by a road game in Spokane against the Dodgers.