Rocky Mountain returns to Idaho baseball title game with epic 12-run rally in fifth inning

CALDWELL - Stephan Zanoni has been around the game of baseball for a long time as both a player and a coach. The Rocky Mountain High School baseball coach

CALDWELL - Stephan Zanoni has been around the game of baseball for a long time as both a player and a coach.

The Rocky Mountain High School baseball coach doesn’t ever remember seeing what transpired Friday night at Wolfe Field. The Grizzlies took the term “two-out rally” to a whole another level with 12 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to down defending state champion Timberline 12-8 in the semifinals of the Idaho Class 5A State Tournament.

The second-seeded Grizzlies (22-6) advanced to their first title game since 2017 and will play No. 5 Owyhee (19-9) Saturday at 5 p.m.

“I’ve coached for quite a while now and 12-run innings are hard to come by,” Zanoni said with a smile. “But I’m sure glad they came tonight.”

So is Peyton Hines.

The Rocky Mountain junior pitcher got the call on the hill with a 5-1 record and an ERA of 1.24 this season. But it wasn’t one of his typical outings. He was ok through three innings before getting chased off in the fourth where he surrendered five runs.

“It wasn’t too great,” Hines said. “But I had to come back and find a way to help my team win. I can’t just pout because of the five runs that happened. I had to find a way to help the team out.”

And that’s exactly what happened.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning, Hines ripped a two-run double to left field. That was only just the beginning.

Kaden Menard and Braden Lewis also had two-RBI hits. It was a half inning that saw Rocky Mountain get seven hits and almost bat-around twice with 16 total hitters sent to the plate. Coincidentally, it was Hines who brought in the final run of the rally with an RBI double to left field.

“Peyton here has grown so much,” Rocky Mountain senior first baseman Derek Schumacher said. “When I used to know him when he was little, he’d pout, sit in the dugout and almost start crying. For him to come out and hit that double and get us going, that was crazy.”

The Grizzlies entered state having only scored six total runs in their previous four games. It prompted them to literally embrace the rally monkey persona with monkey screams from the dugout and an actual monkey mask to wear. They were inspired to do so by teammate Chase Garrison, who mentioned wanting to go to the zoo last weekend, but couldn’t because of practice.

Rocky Mountain has now scored 19 runs over its last two games at state.

“I think it’s safe to say we got the monkey off our back,” Zanoni said. “But we’re gonna keep it around for one more tomorrow.”

Good call.

They might need it then against Owyhee that has a real team of destiny vibe going on. And one that is quite familiar with the Grizzlies, who will be seeking their third state championship. Most of its players, including Schumacher’s younger brother, Drew, were on their junior varsity team last season.

“I don’t know how it’s gonna go today,” Schumacher said with a laugh. “We’ll be brothers today, but tomorrow it’s going to be a different story. I don’t know how it’s gonna go.”

And it took 11 innings for Rocky Mountain just to slip by Owyhee 7-6 in the one and only meeting on April 19.

“It was a dogfight then,” Zanoni said. “I expect a dogfight tomorrow.”

(All photos by Loren Orr)

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