Twins gain spot in semis
But suffer another injury
The Daily Inter Lake
WILLISTON, N.D. - They might as well be called the tough-luck Twins.
Glacier's Class AA American Legion baseball team suffered another injury Friday - after losing three players for the season in the past week - and were forced to forfeit the game in progress because it didn't have enough players to field a team against Lewistown at the Williston Tournament.
The Twins did rebound, though, to win their second game of the day, 3-0, over Mandan, N.D., and earned a berth into the tournament semifinals today at 3 p.m. Their semifinal opponent was unkown at the time of The Daily Inter Lake's press deadline.
Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning of the first game against Lewistown with runners on second and third base, Roo Grubb was hit by a pitch in the wrist and had to be taken to the hospital for X-rays. With the loss of Grubb, the Twins were left with only eight available players in the game and had to forfeit.
"It was an unusual loss," Glacier coach Jack Helber said. "We've got 12 guys with us that can play, well now we are down to 11, but we had no substitute available. Fortunately, the X-rays were negative, but (Grubb) won't be able to play for about a week."
The Twins lost Marty Richter to a broken bone in his shoulder Tuesday in Medicine Hat, Alberta, during a quasi-collision at the plate and Josh Peterson Sunday to a torn ACL when he tried avoiding a tag while running up the first-base line. The team also lost Ryan Howard Friday when he moved to northern California.
Glacier 3, Mandan 0
Glacier starting pitcher Brad Bell pitched five strong innings of two-hit ball and Jesse Paulson relieved him with two hitless innings to help lead the Twins in improving to 2-1 in the tournament.
Bell struck out four while walking four in improving to 2-1 from the mound on the season. Paulson didn't tally any walks or strikeouts in earning his first save of the season.
"That felt good to get that win, especially after what happened in the first game," Helber said. "We were up 4-0 (in the first game) and then just did silly things to let them gain the lead. Then we had runners in scoring position and couldn't go any further after Grubb got hit."
Byron Whitcomb broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third inning with an RBI bunt single. With a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning, after scoring an unearned run in the fourth, Jarred Krueger and Bell connected on back-to-back, two-out triples. Bell's was the RBI triple and he also had a double in the game.
The Twins outhit Mandan, 8-2, with Whitcomb, Doug Cuffe, Bell and Krueger each having two hits.
The Twins are now 10-19 on the season.
Mandon dropped to 0-3 in the tourney.
Glacier 001 110 0 - 3 8 2
Mandan 000 000 0 - 0 2 2
Brad Bell, Jesse Paulson (6) and Paulson, Bell (6). Mike Quast, Jared Quast (5) and Ryan Junguling. W - Bell (2-1). L - M. Quast. S - Paulson (1).
GLACIER (10-19) - Byron Whitcomb 2-4, Doug Cuffe 2-3, Riley VanNyhuis 0-1, Paulson 0-4, Bell 2-3, Jarred Krueger 2-3, Rusty Hill 0-2, Phillipe LeCourleiux 0-3, Scott Yogodzinski 0-1, Jon Cloyed 1-1.
MANDAN - Mike Quast 0-3, Steve Pletan 1-2, Ryan Schnell 0-1, Ryan Junguling 0-3, Matt Keller 0-3, Jared Quast 0-3, Chad Prusker 0-2, Travis Fleck 1-2, Andrew Tweet 0-1, Bryan Bahr 0-3.
RBIs - Gla. 2 (Whitcomb, Krueger). 2B - Gla. 1 (Bell). 3B - Gla. 2 (Bell, Krueger). SB - Gla. 1 (Krueger).