Cooper is mashing, Poky is winning and one W away from a district title

As the Pocatello Runnin’ Rebels prepare for the biggest game of the season, it’s hard to not look back at their best hitter’s spectacular season.

With 13 home runs in 43 games, Bodie Cooper is having the type of season he’s been working towards for as long as he’s been a baseball player.

The comparison isn’t exact — or even close — but if Cooper played 162 games like Major League Baseball, he’d be dead on track to finish the year with just under 50 home runs.

Throw in the fact he’s a great catcher and solid fielder and it looks like the College of Southern Idaho got an absolute steal convincing the Pocatello High School graduate to sign and play in Twin Falls for the Eagles.

For Cooper, this season has been a long time coming.

“Ever since Little League I’ve been a power hitter,” he said, the day before the Runnin’ Rebels knocked off Twin Falls 6-1 in the semifinals of Area C’s AA Legion tournament. “Only hitting three (home runs) last year, three in high school and four in high school this year, it’s just been kind of a bummer. Finally, to get a big number like 13, it’s pretty sweet.”

And fulfilling. Cooper spends the offseason working on hitting. He constantly thinks about it, and he prides himself on the ability to connect bat with ball.

He’s been the centerpiece of an offense averaging about eight and a half runs a game. Cooper leads the Runnin’ Rebels in runs, hits, RBIs and slugging percentage.

And how about this. With runners in scoring position, Cooper’s team-high average jumps from .474 to .630. I’ll repeat that. When a baserunner is standing on second and/or third base and Cooper is at the plate, his average jumps up 156 percentage points.

“In the past years, I haven’t quite been sharp, for whatever reason,” Cooper said. “This year, it’s just been me, what I think I can do. So I hope what I’ve done this year is pretty good for everybody. I’m more than happy with it. I’m not leaving upset with anything. It’s been great and it’s been a lot of fun with these guys.”

Not that he thinks he’s done. Far from it, of course, considering Pocatello plays the Idaho Falls Bandits today at 1 p.m. for a district championship and a berth in the state tournament next week.

Cooper and the rest of Poky’s lineup will have quite a challenge considering the Bandits could send future Oregon Duck Kohl Hostert to the mound. Or how about Jalen Fuhriman, just a guy who tossed a 38-pitch, five-inning no-hitter earlier this season?

But Runnin’ Rebels head coach Bob Hunt has his No. 1 ace, Aaron Pope, on a full seven days rest ready to go, too. And Pocatello’s fate — as any team game dictates — doesn’t rest solely on either Cooper’s or Pope’s shoulders.

Before Thursday’s win against Twin Falls — the likely opponent for whoever doesn’t survive the Rebel-Bandit rumble — Hunt told his team about an analogy he read years ago.

It’s a story where there’s a pool of clear water. There’s no wind, no ripples and it’s like a mirror reflecting everything around it.

“But if somebody throws a rock in there just the size of a thumb nail ... and creates a ripple, that’s how all of a sudden everything becomes distorted,” Hunt said, recalling what he told his players. “You no longer see a picture as clear as it was before that simple little thing came in. I said let’s avoid the ripples today.”

Against Twin, the Runnin’ Rebels avoided the ripples by maintaining their focus and composure. And, perhaps most importantly, they played unselfishly.

“We have so many good individual players on this club and sometimes throughout our year, I’ve felt, played as individuals on a team,” Hunt said. “Not as a team of players playing on a team.”

Now the challenge is to repeat the process.