Blackhawks split with Clarkston

The Cheney High baseball team began Great Northern League play after splitting a doubleheader against Clarkston, March 26 losing the first game 8-6 and winning the nightcap, 8-7.

Cheney took an early lead in the first game after Trey Martin's RBI brought in Riley Jones. Clarkston answered with two runs in the second to take the lead and four more in the third to make it 6-1. Gleave scored a run on stolen bases in bottom of the third inning. In the fifth inning Cade VanWormer hit a double - one of two hits for him - to bring in Gleave, then scored a run on his own after a Clarkston error to bring the score within two runs. The Bantams capped the lead with two more runs in the sixth from Jackson Shaw and Martin. Cheney scored two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Gleave was 2-for-3 at bat while Vanwormer was 2-for-2 with two RBIS and Harrison King was 1-for-2 with an RBI. Shaw and Cameron Wiseman each added hits.

"We've been playing from behind so much that it takes us out of the game a little," head coach Mike Cagle said. "We couldn't close the gap."

Cagle added the team hadn't gotten a lot of practice in that week due to working on the field because of the snow and rain.

Ty Graham (0-1) took the loss on the mound after he shared pitching duties with Shaw and Wiseman.

Like the first game, Cheney took an early lead after Gleave's two RBI-single in the first inning.

Down 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs, Cheney scored a run to bring the score within one. With bases loaded, Riley Jones hit a walk-off double over the centerfielder's head to bring in Graham and Wiseman and clinch the win for Cheney and snap their three-game losing streak.

"It was a great finish," Cagle said. "Riley did a great job hitting. He's a clutch player."

Jones had two hits in the game. Andrew Witt was 3-for-3 with an RBI. Gleave, VanWormer, King and Dylan Arthur had one hit each.

Gleave (1-1) picked up his first win on the mound after he took over for Arthur in the sixth inning.

The Blackhawks (1-1 GNL, 3-3 overall) are in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings with Clarkston (1-1, 2-1) and West Valley (1-1, 3-1).

They played West Valley in an away game, March 29 and travel to Pullman, Friday April 1, to play in a game that was originally scheduled for March 22 but moved due to weather conditions. Cheney returns home April 2 to play East Valley.

West Valley came into the Cheney game with a 9-6 nonleague win over Pasco. East Valley defeated Pullman, 7-5, 9-7, in a doubleheader last Saturday.

Cagle said the team will focus on offense in the coming week and "work on being a team that can play in the second half."

"We'll try to win 2 out of 3 (games this week) if we can, of course we'd like to sweep them," Cagle said.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].