River Dogs White make strong showing at Palouse Summer Series

PULLMAN — With the Columbia Basin River Dogs select team selections right around the corner on July 2, members of the River Dog White team made a strong showing in finishing second in their pool at the Palouse Summer Series this past weekend with a 3-1 record.

The Palouse Summer Series had 20 teams in the under-19 division and the River Dogs, comprised of mostly 16-17-year-olds, held their own with their only loss coming to Walla Walla Sweets on the third day of the five-day tournament.

There were reportedly several scouts and college coaches in attendance taking a look at the talented pool of players from Idaho, Eastern Washington and Central Washington.

The River Dogs, which have several players from the team that won the state and regional titles and played in Junior World Series (2016) as 15-year-olds, then won the senior state title and made it to the semifinals of the Senior Babe Ruth World Series in 2017, were in the same pool as the Idaho Cubs, Northwest Bandits, Laces Baseball and the Walla Walla Sweets.

The River Dogs White finish the first half of the schedule next weekend at the Summer Slam in Portland, Ore., another big tournament featuring talented teams up and down the coast.

Then on July 2, for the first time in River Dog program history, the coaching staffs will pick the top 18 players from the White and Blue to form a select team that will play in the Washington state Senior Babe Ruth state tournament.

The winner of the state tournament will represent Washington in the Regional Tournament in Gillette, Wyo., on July 18-20. The regional winner will participate in the Senior Babe Ruth World Series in Jamestown, N.Y. on Aug. 4-11

CB River Dogs 7, Idaho Cubs vs 5

River Dogs 5, NW Bandits 4

Dax Lindgren pitched a gem in relief and Columbia Basin regained the lead in the top of the seventh to defeat the Bandits from Kirkland.

Lindgren, who also went 3-for-4, didn’t allow a run in two innings pitched and scattered just four hits. Evan McLean went 2-for-2 with a triple and two RBI. Trey Spencer was 2-for-3 and Emmitt Tatum scored three times in a 1-for-2 day.

Walla Walla 7, River Dogs 2

Columbia Basin went into the bottom of the seventh inning having produced just one hit. The River Dogs scored twice in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to challenge Walla Walla, which took a four-run lead in the third and rolled to the victory.

AJ Pruneda hit a two-RBI double and Cody Goodwin had a triple.

River Dogs 7, Laces 6

Columbia Basin took the early lead and held off the Laces, which scored three in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh.

Dax Lindgren, Cody Goodwin and Ryan Hernandez all had two hits apiece and the River Dogs scored seven runs on seven hits to win the Palouse Summer Series opener against the Laces.

Lindgren had a double and three RBI. Goodwin and Hernandez both drove in two runs apiece.