Patriots plug L-C Twins after 2-3 W-bats run

Palouse Patriots plugged a 17-3 win over the Lewis-Clark Twins at Harris Field in Lewiston for the biggest win of the summer’s AAA Legion campaign. The Pats rolled for 13 runs in the last two innings of the win.

The big win, which countered a loss to the Twins earlier in the season, left the Patriots at 15-13 for the season.

Four players who each had three hits in the game were Payton Kallaher, Recce Chadwick, Cam Vis and Nate Akesson.

Akesson rapped a two-run triple off the right field wall to highlight a seventh inning when the Pats scored nine runs.

Coach Mike Kinkade used three pitchers who held the hosts to six hits for the game. Kallaher, Chadwick and Mitch LaVielle all worked stints on the mound for a Pats team which finished a five-game run over the weekend.

The game was tied at 3-3 after three frames, and the Pats scored one in the fifth to get and edge before the 13-run barrage in the last two innings.

The team made the trip to Lewiston after they rolled out a 2-3 record in the Wooden Bat tournament in a five-game run over a long weekend. They split doubles Friday and Saturday at Lakeside High in Coeur d’Alene and then finished with a loss Sunday to the East Side Dodgers from the Tri-Cities at Medical Lake.

In the Friday opener, the Pats nipped NW Premier 8-7. They had a four-run lead going into the last inning when the NW team rallied to score three before they were shut down.

Akesson took the win and Konner Kinkade iced it in the final inning. Akesson allowed five hits, struck out four and walked just two in working the first six innings. The NW team tapped Kinkade for three hits in their seven-run charge.

Chadwick led the bats with a homer and a double, and Akesson rapped a single and a double. Both were credited with two RBIs.

In the second game Friday the Patriots were hammered by the Calgary Blues team 10-3. The Blues stacked a 7-2 lead after three innings and the Pats booked just one more run.

Calgary batters totaled 11 hits agains Pats’ hurlers Chadwick, LaVielle and Peter Smith.

Kallaher doubled and singled for the Patriots and Chadwick booked a two-run single for the big rap in the game.

Saturday at Lakeside, the Patriots rolled to a 10-1 win in the opener with an 11-hit attack over the Ridge Meadow Royals.

Kallaher went all the way on the mound for the win. He allowed five hits, struck out six and walked just one.

Kallaher also clubbed a three- run homer and two singles for a total of five RBIs in the game. LaVielle hit two singles and a triple, and Carson Coulter added two singles.

After the big win, the Patriots were shut out by the Expos Red team 6-0 in the second game. They managed five hits off Expos starter Quinn Bennett, but Bennett also struck out 10 batters in the game.

LaVielle singled and doubled and Akesson tagged two singles for the Patriots. Catcher Tristan Wilson singled for the other hit.

The Patriots then rolled to Medical Lake on Sunday and sustained an 11-3 loss to the Eastside Dodgers.

The Tri-Cities team scored four runs in the third inning and six more in fourth to take control.

Viz, Kelan Becker and Smith pitched for the Patriots.

The Pats had seven hits in the game with Kallaher, Kinkade and Wilson each getting two hits. Kallaher finished with a triple and a single and knocked in two of the three Patriots’ run.

The Patriots are booked to play at a Walla Walla tournament this weekend and then play in the district tournament in Spokane the following week.

The state Legion tournament will be at Bellingham July 26-July 31.