Has ImageTwins hold off Kootenai Valley

WHITEFISH - It was a low-scoring, tied game for 6 1/2 innings - and then Glacier's Class AA American Legion baseball player Jesse Paulson tore into Kootenai's bullpen.

Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday night at Memorial Field, Jarred Krueger hit an RBI double and then Paulson followed with the first of two two-run home runs and the Twins went on to beat Class A Kootenai Valley, 12-4.

The non-conference victory avenged Kootenai's 5-4 victory in Eureka on May 16 and salvaged the season split between the newly-anointed rivals.

Kootenai starting pitcher Jordan Lundberg matched two Glacier pitchers - starter Marty Richter and first reliever Brad Bell - and handed a tied game to his bullpen in the seventh inning.

That's when the Twins bats came alive.

Glacier's Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 hitters hammered Kris Chupp for back-to-back-to-back-to-back extra-base hits and the Twins scored six runs in the seventh to take command.

"I kept thinking, 'He can't give up another one, can he? … He can't give up another, can he?'" Kootenai coach Jim Henrie said. "I was thinking that because Lundberg was throwing so hard and Chupp is slower that the change of pace would have gotten to them. He usually gets guys to pop out a lot."

Jeremy Howard and Rusty Hill had doubles in the inning along with Krueger. Paulson's two-run homer highlighted the inning along with leadoff hitter Byron Whitcomb's two-out, two-run single.

Chupp started the eighth inning on the mound, too, and Krueger led off with a single before Paulson mashed his second homer over the left-field fence.

"I've never hit two bombs in a game before … It is pretty sweet - my first multi-home run game," Paulson said. "Krueger, who bats right before me, straight hammered three foul balls off him before smashing a double. So my approach was to just stay inside of it (the ball). Since the wind was blowing out I just wanted to get something in the air and I needed to stay inside of it. Both times I got two perfect fastballs and just did what I could with them. He threw me a couple of deuces (curve balls) but I just laid off of them. I wanted the real deal, man."

Paulson's first jack came on an 0-1 count. His second, just an inning later, came on a 1-1 pitch. The first one went really high, straight over the left fielder's head. The second was a line drive over left-center field. They were the first two homers of the season for the Twins' cleanup hitter.

"It feels great," Paulson said. "It was a relief because I've been struggling a bit. I'm hitting like .350, but I was hitting .412 before the Wooden Bat Tournament, and I've had a rough time since then. It is nice getting out of that funk."

Josh Peterson, the Twins' second reliever, picked up the victory on the mound. He, Bell and closer Jon Cloyed combined for five innings of no-hit ball. They combined to allow just two base runners. Peterson improved to 1-1 on the season.

… And now the Twins seemed to have fixed one of their weaknesses: Pitching.

"The pitching has come around the past few weeks," Glacier coach Jack Helber said. "We've now won six of our last eight games and a lot of those have been hung on the pitching. Greg May has done a great job with our pitchers. He came in a couple of weeks late from Claremont McKenna College in southern California. He just graduated from college and is doing a great job with our pitchers. That's been the difference and now we are able to settle on individual jobs. We have a four-man starting rotation and we have three guys in relief. You saw all three of them in this game and that's the way we are going to do it from now on. All we need to do is go four or five innings with a starter and then three guys come in and nobody goes into high pitch counts."

Kootenai managed just four hits in the game, but struck out only four times. All of the hits came off Richter. Of the four runs he allowed, only one was earned. He didn't walk any, but hit three batters. On top of those early pitching woes, Glacier spread out six errors in the game.

"Those six errors really infuriated me," Helber said. "We hit three batters, gave up two walks, allowed three unearned runs and had only six hits in six innings. We're not going to get anything that way. But the hitting came around and the pitching did well."

Krueger led the Twins with three hits, including two doubles and three RBIs. Paulson, Howard and Hill each had two hits. Howard, the Twins' do-all who had two stolen bases and an RBI, played his final game for the Twins. He is moving to California on Friday.

The Twins move into the Western AA part of their schedule with an 8-14 record. They host the Great Falls Electrics in a doubleheader on Saturday before heading with the Electrics back to The Electric City for another doubleheader on Sunday. Then it's off to Medicine Hat, Alberta, on Tuesday for another conference doubleheader. They are 0-4 in conference.

Kootenai dropped to 12-15 on the season. The Rangers play a conference doubleheader in Missoula Saturday and host Mission Valley in a conference doubleheader Tuesday.

Kootenai 002 200 000 - 4 4 3

Glacier 300 100 62x - 12 13 6

Jordan Lundberg, Kris Chupp (7), Kraig Chupp (8) and JD Belstad. Marty Richter, Brad Bell (5), Josh Peterson (7), Jon Cloyed (9) and Jesse Paulson. W - Peterson (1-1). L - Kris Chupp (2-2).

KOOTENAI (12-15) - Belstad 0-5, Kris Chupp 1-4, Zach Neiwsma 0-3, Lundberg 1-3, Kraig Chupp 0-4, Justin Cummings 0-3, Clete DeShazer 1-3, Gram Cook 0-2, Pat Broom 1-4.

GLACIER (8-14) - Byron Whitcomb 1-4, Roo Grubb 1-3, Jarred Krueger 3-5, Paulson 2-5, Jeremy Howard 2-4, Rusty Hill 2-4, Scott Yogodzinski 0-1, Doug Cuffe 1-2, Bell 0-1, Peterson 0-1, Riley VanNyhuis 0-3, BJ Hattel 1-2, Phil LeCourieux 0-1.

RBIs - Koot. 2 (Kris Chupp, Kraig Chupp), Glac. 11 (Paulson 4, Krueger 3, Whitcomb 2, Howard, Hill). HR - Koot. 0, Glac. 2 (Paulson 2). 2B - Koot. 0, Glac. 4 (Krueger 2, Howard, Hill). SB - Koot. 2 (Broom, Kris Chupp), Glac. 3 (Howard 2, Grubb). SAC - Koot. 1 (Cook), Glac. 0.