POCATELLO — Gunner Wilhelm honestly didn’t have a good feeling going into this season.
But the Pocatello Post 4 Runnin’ Rebels AA catcher couldn’t have been happier to have been proven wrong.
Despite practically losing everyone from last year's team and having a new coach on top of it, the Runnin’ Rebels still managed to repeat as state champions Sunday. They went back-to-back for the first time in nearly a century with a 7-6 walk-off win over the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen Idaho AA 19 U team at Halliwell Park.
By doing so, the Rebels (30-10) are once again heading back to the Northwest Regional Tournament, which is Aug. 7-11 in Billings, Montana.
“It’s a little better (feeling) actually,” said pitcher and infielder Elias Blackhawk who was one of only three returners. “Honestly, I just feel like it was a lot tougher for this team than it was last year. We had a lot of (college) dudes on that team. But no matter who’s on our AA team or who the coaches are, there’s always the same standard and goal once the teams are picked. The goal is to win a state championship no matter what.”
The Runnin’ Rebels still understandably had some growing pains early on.
They began the year 3-4 with four consecutive losses, capped by a 14-3 5-inning mercy-rule loss to Twin Falls on June 6. Pocatello then dropped three of five games later that month. But following a 12-3 road defeat to the Post 40 Hawks on June 22, it turned into a completely different team.
The Runnin’ Rebels rattled off eight straight wins and fell just three times over the next five weeks heading into state.
“We just started playing together,” Wilhelm said. “Everybody started coming together. We figured things out and it was smooth sailing from there.”
State proved to be no different.
The Runnin’ Rebels never trailed in any of their first three games. They opened up with an 18-1 shellacking of Idaho Falls (Hillcrest) before 9-4 and 13-12 wins over Coeur d’Alene and Twin Falls, respectively. Pocatello and Twin Falls met six times during the regular season with each team winning three games apiece.
But the Runnin’ Rebels found themselves down 5-2 against Nampa going into the sixth inning Saturday. While they had already clinched a spot in the state title game, a loss there would have reduced their margin of error in the double-elimination tournament.
So they rallied back with a six-run sixth inning for an 8-5 come-from-behind win.
“I personally believe it was huge. Two years ago before I was on the Runnin’ Rebels, some dudes that I played with had lost that fourth game of the tournament and they would go on to lose in the championship the next day,” said pitcher and outfielder Cody Mortenson. “It brought the vibes up with the team. I felt like that we knew it was time to win it the next day.”
He ended up being right.
Although Sunday’s result was a little too close for comfort.
Pocatello was just three outs away from another state title up 5-3 heading into the top of the seventh inning. But the Lumbermen, who lost to the Runnin’ Rebels in last year’s title game, made things a little interesting. They recorded four hits to take a 6-5 lead themselves to suddenly put the pressure right back on Pocatello.
“Personally, I felt terrible,” said Blackhawk who came in to pitch that inning. “So when I was out on the mound and they took the lead, I felt really down and I was even showing it. But Gunner came up to me and he told me that the game’s not over.”
The Runnin’ Rebels pulled off the comeback without so much as a single hit.
They instead took advantage of two errors, a pair of walks and a hit by pitch. Pocatello walked it off after Preston Foltz was plunked right on the elbow with the bases loaded and the game tied at 6-6. It allowed Kache Stucki to casually trot in for the game-winning run.
“We call it a walk-off hit by pitch. That’s what’s going in the books,” said first-year Rebels head coach Mikee Blackhawk with a laugh. “That’s every kid’s dream that plays any sport is to be in the big moment to be the hero. So of course you want to hit something deep or rip a shot down the line or something into the gap. But I’m glad he did what he did. It got us a state championship and we’re off to Billings.”
The Runnin’ Rebels also won despite being outhit on the day 12-3. Elias, Colt Durham and Kudter Stucki provided the team’s only offensive output with one hit each. Kudter Stucki also drove in two runs.
But they were able to capitalize on seven errors and nine walks from the Lumbermen.
“Like any good coaching staff, we want to take advantage of the other team’s miscues,” said Mikee who was a Runnin' Rebels assistant coach last year prior to stops with the Renegades and the Razorbacks. “Our kids grind and we take a lot of bases and we have pretty good discipline at the plate and we’ll get a lot of walks. We’ll try to take the plate away and get hit a couple of times and it’s just those small things. It’s the small ball of the game that we try to get down where we don’t necessarily need to outhit a team to win.”
The state championship is the 13th in program history. It’s the first time Pocatello has won consecutive titles since three-peating all the way back in 1934.
“There’s just a reputation that the Post 4 holds up and we always do,” Wilhelm said.
Now they’ll look to end another long drought.
The Runnin’ Rebels haven’t advanced to nationals since losing in the 1926 American Legion World Series. They went 2-2 at last year’s regional tournament in Gillette, Wyoming.
“It would be insane, surreal,” said Elias about the possibility of winning regionals. “I think it would be 10 times the feeling of winning a state championship, especially just to do something for our city that I don’t even know if it’s ever happened."
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