Glacier Twins gain split with Lethbridge Elks

WHITEFISH - A big fourth inning blast from Cody Elek and all-around timely team hitting in the sixth has given Glacier Twins baseball fans something that they haven't had in a long time - a win over the Lethbridge Spitz Elks.

By the estimation of Glacier coach Lindsay Fansler, the 6-2 Glacier victory in the ?rst half of Friday's doubleheader was the ?rst for the Twins over the Elks in at least three years.

But the win was a little bittersweet as the Twins (4-10 league play) wound up with a split on the day.

Lethbridge's bats came through with a dozen hits - and a 16-8 victory in the second.

"It was good to get the ?rst one. The second one, we just couldn't stop their offense. You play a doubleheader with one error ... you're happy with that. But they swung it to beat us and we couldn't ?nd a way to stop them," Fansler said.

"Cody Elek stepped up big for us and we were able to scrap out a few (runs) and play good baseball," Fansler said of the ?rst game.

Elek wound up 3 for 3 in that game. Carl Talsma was 2 for 3 with a double and Jack Cronin, Jim Jumper and Devyn Rocker each added a single to the Glacier offense.

"Cody Hill did a great job throwing strikes. We talked about trying to do something special these last two weeks. (Hill) gave us a chance. We'll take that win. It was unfortunate we couldn't get the second, but we've got more baseball ahead and we still feel like we've got a chance. We've just got to keep playing good baseball," he said.

"We feel like we can win any time we get on the ?eld. We just have to do it," he added.

The Lethbridge bats showed up right away in the second game - three pitches in, the Elks had a 2-0 lead.

The Glacier defense settled in to sit the 3-4-5 batters and game looked like it might turn into offensive ?reworks when Glacier scored four runs in the ?rst.

But there was no way to deny the Lethbridge offense. The Twins put ?ve arms against the Elks and they still scored at least two runs in every inning but the sixth. They made up for that with a four run seventh.

Glacier simply couldn't keep the pace - it trailed 12-4 after ?ve innings.

The Twins cut into the lead in the sixth as Chris King got aboard on an error to start things off. Talsma followed with a walk and the Lethbridge pitcher hit Cody Hill to load the bases.

Lethbridge changed pitchers at that point, but Jeremy Nielson singled off reliever Ren Visser to get two Twin runs home. A Rocker sacri?ce and a single by Kyler Blades cut the Lethbridge lead to four runs.

But it was too little, too late.

"We played a good game, but we're down to the wire here where we feel like we've got to win out to give ourselves a chance (to go to state)," Fansler said. "Still, playing meaningful baseball in the last couple of weeks is always a pleasure. We don't feel like we are out of (the race). We've come a long way and we're proud of it, but we've got goals and we want to meet them," he added.

Glacier 6, Lethbridge 2

Lethbridge 000 200 0 - 2 3 2

Glacier 000 213 x - 6 9 0

Brock Groves and Ryan Aiken. Cody Hill and Jim Jumper. W - Hill. L - Groves

Lethbridge - Derek Grubel 0-4, Ryan Aiken 0-3, Braeden Heyland 1-2, Dillon Houghton 0-1, Sean Maclean 2-3, Chris Stodolka 0-3, Ren Visser 0-2, Jordan Shirakawa 0-3, Cody Lenchuca 0-1, Drew Herauf 0-3.

Glacier - Jeremy Nielson 0-4, Jack Cronin 1-2, Kyler Blades 0-3, Cody Elek 3-3, Geoff Streeter 1-3, Chris King 0-3, Carl Talsma 2-2, Jim Jumper 1-2, Devyn Rocker 1-2. HR - Elek. 2B - Talsma. RBI - Elek 2, Talsma 2, Rocker 2.

Lethbridge 16, Glacier 8

Lethbridge 222 330 4 - 16 12 3

Glacier 400 004 0 - 8 6 1

Roy Adams, Ren Visser (6) and Sean Maclean. Zach Maassen, Chase Anderson (3),Geoff Streeter (5), Carl Talsma (5), Chris King (6) and Cody Elek. W - Adams. L - Maassen.

Lethbridge - Grubel 1-4, Aiken 2-3, Maclean 1-4, Houghton 1-4, Heyland 2-4, Stodolka 2-4, Groves 1-1, Visser 2-2, Shirakawa 0-1, Herauf 0-3, Lenchuca 0-3. HR - Aiken, Visser. 2B - Stodolka, Groves, Heyland. RBI - Aiken 3, Houghton 1, Heyland 5, Groves 1, Visser 3, Lenchuca 1.

Glacier - Rocker 0-3, Cronin 2-4, Blades 1-1, Elek 1-4, Streeter 0-3, King 0-3, Talsma 1-3, Hill 0-2, Nielson 1-2. 2B - Cronin, Talsma. RBI - Rocker 1, Blades 1, Elek 1, Talsma 2, Nielson 2.