Lakers AA rip Butte, lose to Helena

HELENA - Mike Bare hit a home run and drove in four runs to help the Kalispell Lakers whip Butte 13-3 on Sunday in American Legion baseball play.

After two scoreless innings, Kalispell pushed three runs across the plate in the third inning. The Lakers followed that with eight runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.

The game was called after five innings on the 10-run rule.

Lee Kendrick, Cody Dopps, Joe Pistorese and Sean O'Connell had two hits each for the Lakers. Kendrick, Dopps and Pistorese all had doubles and Pistorese also tripled.

The Lakers also played Helena on Sunday, falling to the Senators 5-4.

Pistorese had a no-hitter after six innings and surrendered just two hits in the contest.

Helena scored twice in the fifth, capitalizing on two errors, a wild pitch, a stolen base and a passed ball.

Pistorese was pulled in the seventh inning.

Helena added three more runs in the seventh.

"It's frustrating to come away with a loss in the bottom of the seventh inning, but overall in the three games we played this weekend, we had an opportunity to go 3-0," Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said.

"With five rookies in the lineup, that's encouraging. The mistakes we made are fixable."

The Lakers could muster just five hits against Helena. Dillon Matteson led the way by going 2-for-4.

"We're really excited about the pitching staff right now," Malmin said.

"In the first 15 innings of the season, we've allowed three walks and eight hits."

The Lakers (1-1-1) host Libby on Tuesday in nonconference play.

Kalispell 13, Butte 3

Kalispell 003 82 - 13 9 2

Butte 000 30 - 3 4 3

Bucky Bugni and Cade Henderson; S.D. Schenk and Lee Kendrick. W - Schenk, L - Bugni.

KALISPELL - Dillon Matteson 0-2, Kendrick 2-4, Cody Dopps 2-4, Joe Pistorese 2-3, Sean O'Connell 2-3, Alex Stanley 0-2, Mike Bare 1-3, Nate Bangston 0-2.

BUTTE - Henderson 1-3, Anthony Horner 1-3, Bugni 1-3, Matt Berg 1-2, Brian Baker 0-2, Jared Kingston 0-2, Kelly Kissell 0-2, Gabe Kissell 0-1, Kaedon Caprara 0-2.

2B - Kendrcik, Pistorese, Dopps; 3B - Pistorese; HR - Bare; RBIs - Bare 4, Dopps 3, Pistorese (NA for Butte).

Helena 5, Kalispell 4

Kalispell 310 000 0 - 4 5 3

Helena 000 020 3 - 5 2 3

Tony Roberts, Ray Schnur (3), Jaren Gassett and Ryan Estep; Joe Pistorese, Matt Mclean (7), Cody Dopps (7) and Lee Kendrick. W - Schnur, L - Dopps.

KALISPELL - Dillon Matteson 2-4, Kendrick 1-3, Dopps 0-4, Pistorese 1-2, Dillon Eaves 0-3, Alex Stanley 1-3, Mclean 0-3, Mike Bare 0-3, Nate Bengston 0-2.

HELENA - Jimmy Mayer 0-0, Gassett 0-3, Colter Sternhagen 0-2, Jake Harris 0-2, Cole Andriolo 0-3, Brendan "Bam" McGuire 1-2, Joe Coker 0-2, Brad Rook 1-3, Estep 0-2, Roberts 0-0, Schnur 0-3.

RBIs - Stanley 2, Rook 2, Eaves, Pistorese, McGuire.