BOISE — In the first couple of innings of their contest with Timberline, the only runs Middleton could get on the board came off mistakes the Wolves made. To their credit, they capitalized off each one. Their first four runs came off either a passed ball or wild pitch.
But it was Treyton Swygart who broke the game open in the top of the fourth inning. He hit a grand slam to left-center field, making it 8-2 to the Vikings at that point. Middleton scored seven runs in the inning that fueled a 15-2 win Thursday night in five innings. It was Swygart’s fourth home run of the season but the first grand slam in his high school tenure.
“Being in the tight spot with a bunch of runners on, it’s hard to get out of your head,” Swygart said about his grand slam. “I stuck with my approach I’ve been working on and it worked out.”
Timberline kept allowing runners on base, which eventually came back to hurt them. Four batters reached in the fourth inning either by a walk or hit by pitch. It was unforced errors that allowed the Vikings to break free.
For the game, Timberline’s pitchers combined for five walks and seven batters hit by a pitch. There were also eight wild pitches. Those are mistakes you can’t make against a team of Middleton’s caliber.
Through the first three innings, the Wolves held the Vikings to three hits. Timberline (7-5, 2-2 SIC) had scored first with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Diego Baker hit a two-run single for an early 2-0 lead. An error by Cam Lenius at second base allowed an extra base runner to reach before Baker’s hit.
But after a shaky start from pitcher Ian Lenius, he was excellent the rest of the way, striking out nine batters on the night and allowing two hits.
“I love a team that’s resilient,” Middleton head coach Bryan Swygart said. “You have a team that comes out and we have a couple early errors and we showed some resiliency. Ian’s little brother playing second base makes a couple errors for him and Ian picks him up. That resiliency is going to pay off in the long run. We’re going to win a game however we can. Whether it’s with the sticks or the arms with defense, we don’t care how we win as long as we win.”
Middleton scored one run in the second and two in the third. Their heads-up base running put them ahead 3-2.
After the seven-run fourth inning, the Vikings put up five more in the fifth. Drew Holman hit an RBI-double. Peyton Hess followed him with a two-run double of his own. Middleton had only eight hits to go with their 15 runs. Seven of the runs were batted in.
Treyton Swygart has been the heartbeat of Middleton’s lineup. The first team all-state player a year ago entered Thursday night’s game batting .417 on the season with 17 RBI. He didn’t pitch against Timberline, but he’s thrown 47 strikeouts on the mound in 25 2/3 innings with a 2.18 ERA.
“There’s a reason he’s in the middle of our lineup,” Bryan said. “He sees balls well. He knows what to do, he doesn’t try to do too much with it. Even there, he’s going the other way with the ball. He just happens to catch a good piece of it. Can’t complain about his at-bats.”
The rest of the lineup has been potent as well. Ten players have at least 6 RBI and six are batting above .350. Thursday night was the eighth game this season they’ve scored at least ten runs.
“I love the bottom of our lineup producing,” Treyton said. “Two games in a row that our bottom of the lineup has carried the team. We probably had 10 (HBP) today or something crazy like that. We were dogs at the plate, refused to strikeout. We’ve been perfecting our craft.”
It was the Vikings’ sixth win in a row, bringing their record to 12-2 on the season, 3-0 in Southern Idaho Conference play. They’re tied with Eagle for the most wins in 5A.
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