BY MICHAEL DAVID
Spring was in the air Friday afternoon in Hailey as the sun shined brightly on the green grass at Founders Field.
The stage was set for the first home game of the 2016 Wood River Wolverine baseball season—this one against the Jerome Tigers. Much to the delight of the gathered faithful, a great performance was delivered on that stage.
The Wolverines scored their winning run in the seventh.
Senior second baseman Nic Tidwell stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs and the winning run, represented by Dylan Broman, perched 60 feet away on third base.
"I was just looking for a pitch that I could drive,” Tidwell said.
And that's exactly what he did--driving a Brandon Leal pitch deep into the left center gap over the outstretched arm of the Tiger centerfielder that allowed Broman to trot home with the winning run.
Broman had singled, leading off the inning. He then stole second to move into scoring position. His smart base running intensified the pressure on the Jerome team as he advanced to third on a fielder's choice by Wood River's Adrian Rojas.
Tidwell's heroics provided the Wolverines with a 5-4 home opener victory over their conference rivals, sending the Wood River fans home happy.
The Tigers scored first, scratching a single run in the top of third inning off Wolverine starter Christian Hovey.
Wood River countered with two runs in their half of the third inning. Speedy centerfielder Owen Gifford reached base via a base on balls and moved into scoring position by stealing second base. Rojas singled to drive home Gifford, and Tidwell followed with a double to the gap, scoring Rojas.
Jerome seized the lead again in the fourth by scoring two runs on a triple by their right fielder, Riley Harrison. They added a run in the fifth inning for a 4-2 lead.
The Wolverines got one of those runs back as Gifford again led off the inning with walk and stole second. He scored easily on a sharp single by senior third baseman Gunner Gibson.
Speed was once more a factor as Wood River tied the game in the sixth. Catcher Ike Buxton singled and stole second base to start the inning. After advancing to third on a fielder’s choice, Buxton raced home on a Jerome wild pitch to knot the score 4-4.
Kyle Nelson relieved Hovey in the top of the seventh inning. After the first two Tigers reached base with singles, Nelson buckled down, enticing the next batter into a fielder's choice and striking out the final two Jerome batters to keep the score tied heading into the home half of the inning.
"We played team baseball,” said Coach Donnie Green. “Hovey gave us six strong innings and Nelson shut them down in the seventh. Timely hitting and good base running also contributed to the win."
The Wolverines will play a double header against the Tigers in Jerome today. The first game starts at noon and the second at 2 p.m. at Jerome High School.