Himmerich leads Pocatello to victory in regular season finale

POCATELLO — After losing twice Thursday, the Pocatello Thunder were playing Friday entirely for pride and a little momentum heading into next week’s district tournament.

The Thunder (12-11, 4-2) bounced back from a road doubleheader sweep at the hands of conference foe Preston (11-9-1, 4-2), making Preston the conference champion, by earning a 9-5 victory at Rails West Field behind senior Huston Himmerich.

Pocatello head coach Vinnie Benavidez said that winning the last game before the playoffs is always a plus.

“It’s always good,” he said. “You want to win, you want to win against your district (opponent). … It’s all about how you finish (the season).”

Preston scored an unearned run in the first inning, taking its only lead, but held that lead for just half an inning.

Poky answered with four in the bottom half of the first, the last two of which coming on a two-out single from senior Sawyer Myers.

Himmerich said that the advantage of holding an early lead is that he can challenge hitters more, without fear that a base hit can hurt him the way it would otherwise.

“It’s always nice when you’ve got a good lead,” he said. “You can just pitch more fluidly and do what you want to do.”

Handed a 4-1 lead, Himmerich fell into a groove, holding Preston without so much as a threat in the second and third. But he hit a speed bump in the fourth, hitting a better to start the frame.

Preston scored one run in the fourth before making its first real push in the sixth.

Facing a 7-2 deficit, Preston loaded the bases on a walk and two infield singles. Senior Conner Thomson cashed all three runs in, clearing the bases with a ringing double into the left-center field gap.

Unrattled, Himmerich came back to get the third out and strand Thomsen at second.

Benavidez was impressed with Himmerich’s ability to battle despite not pitching as well as he expected.

“He did a good job,” the coach said after the game. “He got himself into some trouble, but he bore down and was like, ‘Nobody’s going to beat me,’ and he took that dawg mentality to get out of some stuff.”

Benavidez said he was proud of the way Himmerich didn’t let his emotions get the better of him.

The Pocatello offense got two of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth, giving Himmerich a little breathing room in the seventh.

The senior right-hander finished things, pitching around a walk and a single to post a scoreless final frame and earn a complete game win. He said after the game that finishing things off for his squad on senior night was important to him.

“I wanted it a lot,” he said. “It meant a lot after yesterday, losing those two games, coming back and beating them and showing our true potential.”

Offensively, Pocatello was led by Myers and fellow senior Tyler Adams, each of whom drove in two runs.

Preston had already claimed the conference crown with two wins on Thursday, meaning Pocatello will host the Century Diamondbacks (2-17, 1-5) Monday in a matchup between the third- and fourth-place finishers.

Himmerich said he expects his team to ride the wave of momentum from Friday’s win through the playoffs.

With just one bid up for grabs, Pocatello, Preston and Century will battle next week for a single available spot in the regional round.

“It’s going to be interesting, because this is the first time since it’s been us three in the (district) that we won’t be the one-seed,” Benavidez said, “so it’s going to be a whole other challenge, a whole other mentality. But if we just go and play our game, I still think we’re the favorites.”

Pocatello’s goal every year, Benavidez said, is a state championship. A district championship is something they will need to get along that path.

As the conference champ, Preston will host the winner on Tuesday for a spot in the district championship.