BY MICHAEL DAVID

Once a baseball player, always a baseball player.

Wood River Baseball Alumni retrieved their cleats from storage and laced them up for a ball game against the young Wood River Wranglers at Founders Field in Hailey on Saturday afternoon.  The annual matchup between the current American Legion team and players from past teams serves as a reunion. And it serves as an opportunity for the alumni to get together and compete between the baselines once again.

Saturday’s game also provided excitement and great entertainment for the fans, as the Wranglers battled back from an early deficit to defeat the Alums 8-6.

In the first inning the Alumni surprised the Wranglers by jumping on the scoreboard with four runs, fueled by offense from Cameron Benson, Kenny Nelson and Anthony Anderson.

Alumni pitchers Christian Nickum and Finn Isaacson held the Wranglers scoreless for the first four innings,  and the Alumni offense tagged on additional runs in the third and fifth innings to take a 6-0 lead.

The Wrangler’s finally got their bats working in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs to cut the Alumni lead in half.  They weren’t done with business, as they put four more runs on the scoreboard in the sixth inning to wrestle the lead back from the veterans, 7-6. 

Wrangler pitchers Nic Tidwell and Tyler Price quieted the Alumni bats for the final four innings to secure the victory for the current squad.

Other alumni participating in the game included Brian Nelson, Austin Heyfer, Matt Zachary, Matt Conover, Joe Malano, Erik Neilson, Rick Bradshaw and Carl Nordstrom.

The Wranglers will be back in action at Founders Field next week with doubleheaders Friday and Saturday. They take on Twin Falls at 4 and 6 p.m. Friday, June 17. And they go up against Marsh Valley at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday, June 18.