MORELAND — The Snake River High School baseball team does not lose often.  

    The visiting Marsh Valley team might be the surprise of the season thus far. Something had to give.

    Unfortunately for the Panthers, it was their defense.

    Marsh Valley scored two runs in each of the final two innings to earn a 5-3 win over Snake River on a cold, windy Tuesday afternoon.

    “This was a great team win for us,” Marsh Valley head coach Kent Howell said. “The team executed well at the plate; every time we needed a big hit they got a hit. I cannot say enough for how good Trevor Bowers pitched today. He was great; this was a big win for us.

    The Eagles were held hitless for the game’s first four innings, by Snake River starter Kade Keller. But walks and hit batsmen allowed the Eagles to have baserunners in every inning.

    Keller walked five batters and hit five more in his five-plus innings of work. And for the most part he got of the jams his got into unscathed, that all changed in the sixth inning.

    Hunter Dayton led off the inning with an infield single, the Eagles’ first hit. Tyeson Iverson was hit by a pitch and Dylan Brown walked to load the bases.

    Snake River head coach Rich Dunn changed pitchers, bringing in Zane Stephenson to try and get out of the inning.

    Stephenson was one pitch away from doing that when disaster struck.

    After getting back-to-back strikeouts, Stephenson had a 2-2 count on Dylan Guthrie.

    Guthrie hit the 2-2 pitch to second base but instead of charging forward to pick up the ball, Panthers’ second baseman Kade Harral misplayed it and it went through his legs, allowing two runs to score and the Eagles to tie the game 3-3

    “Both pitchers threw us enough outs to win this ballgame,” Dunn said. “I don’t think people realize the guts it takes to come into a game bases loaded and no outs and just throw strike after strike. But baseball is a funny thing; when someone is sitting back on their heels the ball finds a way to find them. This is a great learning experience for us.”

    A walk and an error cost the Panthers in the seventh innning as Dustin Rowe and Caleb Millerman both reached base.

    Dayton hit a groundball towards shortstop and it appeared the Panthers’ Bret Parkinson was going to make the play, but the ball skipped under his glove and into left field, allowing Rowe to score the game-winning run.

    Brown added an RBI ground out later in the inning for the final run of the game.

    “I could not be more proud of the kids,” Howell said. “They put a full seven innings together and picked up a big win for us.”

    Snake River’s offense was kept off guard all afternoon by Marsh Valley starter Trevor Bowers.

    Bowers kept hitters off balance with his off-speed pitches on the way to seven strikeouts in his complete game effort.

    The Panthers got one big hit in the game and that game in the bottom of the fifth with two outs.

    Parkinson got involved in a lengthy at-bat with Bowers.

    With the count 3-2, Parkinson fouled off five consecutive pitches, before lacing a single into left field driving home Harral and Nate Martin to give the Panthers their first and only lead.

    “I felt like we were a little tight,” Dunn said of his team’s day. “I think for the first time this season that the team felt like they were walking into a big game. Credit Marsh Valley, they but pressure on us defensively. They had runners on from the get go and we made some uncharacteristic mistakes.”

    Marsh Valley (12-3, 3-1 4A Fifth Distrcit) travels to Preston today while Snake River (11-2,2-1) hosts Malad Thursday. Both games begin at 4:30 p.m.

Marsh Valley 5, Snake River 3

Marsh Valley    010    002    2 — 5 3 4

Snake River        001    020    0 — 3 3 3

Marsh Valley — Trevor Bowers and Dustin Rowe. Snake River — Kade Keller, Zane Stephenson (6) and Cash Cardona. 2B — Cardona (SR).