Bengals do enough to stay perfect

An opportunistic Moscow Bears baseball squad got a second chance to face Lewiston's Allen Willey in a Inland Empire League contest on Tuesday at Church Field.

Willey, who had hurled five scoreless innings in the teams' previous meeting, was unable to repeat his success as the Bears touched up the southpaw for four runs on eight hits in four innings.

But the undefeated Bengals (13-0) warmed back to form by the middle innings to claim a 7-5 win.

Both teams showed signs of rust as they returned to game action for the first time two weeks.

"We came out pretty flat, we haven't played (in two weeks)," Lewiston coach Tom Grunenfelder. "And Moscow competed and battled really well. A win is a win, so we'll take it."

Willey yielded two runs in the top of the first as Moscow starter Brock Pederson drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single that scored Derek Belschner and Drew Papineau.

After allowing single runs in the third and fourth innings, Willey was lifted in favor of Kyle Morgan, who entered the game in the fifth inning.

But prior to Willey's exit the Bengals were able to put together a four-run fourth inning to take a 7-4 lead, putting Willey in line for the victory.

"If we had made a few plays behind Allen in the first few innings his line would have looked better," Grunenfelder said. "He didn't have his best stuff, but he pitched well enough to get some outs."

Moscow opened the door for Lewiston's big inning by making errors on the first three plays of the frame.

Kyle Mai singled to center and advanced to third base on a throwing error by Bears center fielder Logan Brooks. Tyler Presby and Nick Hall each reached base on consecutive fielding errors by the Bears, although Presby was caught stealing third base by Moscow catcher Justin Parkins.

Zach Holley followed a Beau Kerns fly out with a run-scoring single. Then Glade Grunenfelder drew his second of three walks on the day, setting up a Kyle Knigge two-run double which pushed the Bengal lead to 7-4.

Parkins was hit by a Reese Qualey pitch with the bases loaded in the Moscow sixth to complete the scoring. Qualley struck out the next two hitters to escape the jam with the Bengal lead intact.

"It was good to back on the field, but I think we all feel we could have performed better," Moscow coach Brent Belschner said.

The game was originally scheduled to be played in Moscow, but poor weather conditions in the Palouse forced the game to be moved Tuesday morning.

Belschner was given the option to play as the home team, but declined.

"I just thought if we are going to someone else's field we should play as the visitors, for the fans," the second-year coach said. "Lewiston is always a great host, so we respect that."

Grunenfelder was about the only player on either side to look comfortable at the plate as he drew three walks, scored three runs and launched a two-run homer in the third inning that evened the score at 3 apiece.

"I was looking for a good first pitch to hit each time, but I never really got it so I ended up with some walks," the Bengal junior said.

"Other than that one that went out," he added.

.

Moscow 201 101 0-5 10 3

Lewiston 102 400 x-7 6 0

Brock Pederson, Kyle Morgan (4) and Parkins. Allen Willey, Reese Qualey (5), Beau Kerns (7) and Kyle Mai.

Moscow hits - Belschner, Papineau 2, Laven 2 (2B), Parkins, Pederson, Morgan, Lane Brooks.

Lewiston hits - Zach Holley, Glade Grunenfelder (HR), Kyle Knigge 2 (2B), Kasey Knigge, Mai.

JV - Lewiston def. Moscow 15-13, 12-2 (Bengals improve to 12-0 on the year).