The Hermiston Spuds opened the Walla Walla, Wash. Invitational Friday with a come-from-behind win against Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, winning 6-5.

The Spuds were down 5-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning but erupted for six runs in the bottom of the frame to secure the win. Head coach Doug Taylor hopes his team can build off the opening victory.

Hopefully it gives them confidence, Taylor said. Something weve really had to concentrate on is mental focus and being prepared. Weve allowed other teams to do that occasionally, and its good to be on the other side.

After a Jay Lindeman walk, Tyler Sexton had the best at-bat of the game in the fifth inning, Taylor said. Facing an 0-2 count, Sexton fought off three pitches before coming up with a single to move Lindeman into scoring position. Pedro Rodriguez put the Spuds on the board with a single, and Mario Dovalina followed Rodriguez with a bunt single.

With the bases full of Spuds, Chase Root hit a fielders choice to cut the lead to 5-2. After a Jason Almaguer walk, Sean Smith and Nychal Gritz hit back-to-back singles that tied the game at 5 runs.

Kyler Mikami then came up huge for Hermiston. With a runner on third and one out, Mikami executed a suicide squeeze to bring in the deciding run.

Hes a kid that does a lot of the little things well, Taylor said. Theres probably no one I would rather have than him because Im pretty cofnident hes going to get it down.

The Spuds surrendered all five runs in the first two innings. Taylor said the defense came out sluggish, and Hermiston made all four errors early on, which affected the starter, Almaguer.

He gave up five runs in two innings, but only one was earned. Lindeman relieved Almaguer in the third inning and held the Coeur dAlene hitters in check going four and two-thirds innings without surrendering a run.

Jay is one of those pitchers that has a lot of upside, Taylor said. He gave us a chance to come back in the game. He was pitching to contact, and our defense made a couple nice plays and kept us hanging around.