Moscow baseball beats Lakeland to advance to district championship

MOSCOW — Through excellent pitching and timely hitting, the Moscow Bears beat the Lakeland Hawks 7-3 in a 5A Inland Empire League district tournament game hosted Wednesday at Abby Field in Moscow.

Moscow (16-9) had command for the entirety of the matchup against Lakeland (5-18) and led from the first inning on.

The top-seeded Bears advanced to play in the district championship game against the Lewiston Bengals (11-13) on Friday back at Abby Field.

Top performers

Moscow pitcher Butch Kiblen, coming off an illness, stepped onto the mound and dealt against Lakeland. He pitched a complete game in seven innings and allowed four hits, three runs and fanned seven batters. In the second inning, he struck out the side.

“I’ve been sick for a little bit so I wasn’t feeling my 100% coming in today,” Kiblen said. “But I think the district feeling kind of locked me in a little more. It prepared me more mentally. Honestly, all day today I was thinking about the game, thinking about my pitching approach and how I was gonna attack the batters.”

There were just two innings in which Kiblen struggled: the fourth inning he allowed two runs to score and in the fifth one run scored. He said that he did not feel like he had his best stuff in the game but kept battling.

Moscow coach Griffin Rod said that even though Kiblen did not have full command, he did a great job of handling his adversity and was a great leader for the Bears.

“Butch is awesome,” Rod said. “He was a little bit under the weather, still just battled, a little frustrated with the calls he wasn’t getting, (and) still just battled. Just a gritty performance from him. ... Control or not, his fast ball plays.”

The Bears did not get many hits in the game, finishing with four. But they made them all count.

During the second inning, Moscow’s Sam Rigney was hit by a pitch and JP Breese reached base on an error. Connor Isakson then singled to center field to score Rigney.

Then, Breese and Isakson performed a double steal to put runners on second and third. Andrew Hurley was at bat when he hit a blooper to the right-field line for a two-RBI single as Breese and Isakson scored.

Later, in the fourth inning, Breese and Simeon Rauch were on base and Hurley was up to bat again. Hurley hit a line drive towards the left-field wall for another two RBI on a double.

Hurley gave credit to his coaches as he feels like he is hitting well.

“Gotta give it to my coaches, just helping me in the cages,” Hurley said. “Everything’s feeling great right now, got the swing dialed in nice and aggressive at the plate. That’s gotta be the mindset going into the next game too — just aggressive.”

Jelling as a team

Rod said that he sees his team jelling similar to the year before — but in a different way.

He said that the year before, when the Bears won the 4A state title, the team grew up together from Little League and had been best friends for a long time.

This year is different since not all the players had known each other that long.

“I just applauded them, like ‘Look at what you created, look at what you have built,’” Rod said. “You have built a team that loves each other, that stands up for each other, that doesn’t bicker, that doesn’t fight. ... I commended the seniors for making this happen. For creating a group that is special.

“Not until later in life, from the 10,000 foot view, can you really appreciate how unique it is to have a team that is bonded and there for each other. No dugout drama, no internal fighting — just a lot of love and a lot of acceptance.”

District championship time

The Bears are now preparing to host Lewiston for the 5A Inland Empire League district championship taking place at 4 p.m. Friday on their home dirt.

Moscow is the No. 1 seeded team in the tournament and Lewiston is No. 3, however Lewiston beat No. 2 Sandpoint 5-4 on Tuesday to advance to the championship.

Rod said that keeping things small and relying on their practice will be important for the Bears against Lewiston.

“We just understand that anyone can win a single game of baseball,” Rod said. “So we are more internally focused on handling our jobs, executing small ball when we need to. Being able to stick with our approach offensively, stick with our plate discipline and just put ourselves in a position to win. These guys have practiced so hard every day since the season has started. So outside of the anxiousness that comes with a big game, really we just need to rely on that training, rely on that work that we’ve done.”

Lakeland 000 210 0—3 4 3

Moscow 130 300 x—7 4 3

E. Shanley, L. Puzio (4), T. Ellenwood (6) and N. Bevacqua; B. Kiblen and T. Izzo. W — Kiblen; L — Shanley.

Lakeland hits — G. Tamangi, Ellenwood, Shanley, J. Caywood.

Moscow hits — A. Hurley 2 (2B), C. Isakson, S. Rauch.

Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @TrevorJunt.