Twins AA drop opener in Spokane

SPOKANE — The Glacier Twins AA got their hits, but couldn’t get past the Billings Royals on Wednesday, losing 4-2 in the opener of the Spokane Wood Bat Classic. 

Billings scored in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead, which turned out to be just enough in a low-scoring defensive battle.

The Twins outhit Billings in the game, getting five runners on base to the Royals’ three, and got runners in scoring position in all but two innings but were only able to cash in twice.

Conner Donahue struck out seven batters and walked just two in the loss. Nick LaGrandeur hit a double and knocked in a run to lead the Twins at the plate.

The Twins continue at the tournament today, playing the Kennewick (Wash.) Bandits. The tournament runs through Saturday.

Royals 4, Twins AA 2

Billings1110001—433

Glacier0010010—254

Braydon Bolotas, Spencer Bower (5), Pete Lind (7) and Tanner Leenknecht. Conner Donahue and Jeremy Nielsen. W — Bolotas. L — Donahue. S — Lind.

BILLINGS — Joseph Zimmer 1-4, Hunter Kovash 0-3, Luke Reinschmidt 1-4, Chance Ackerman 0-3, Nick Scanson 0-2, TJ Jacobs 0-2, Matt Shelhamer 0-3, Leenknecht 1-2, Eli Gunderson 0-3.

RBI — Zimmer, Reinschmidt, Leenknecht.

GLACIER — Jeremy Nielsen 1-4, Carl Talsma 1-2, Cory Davis 0-4, Peter Seymour 0-4, Nick LaGrandeur 1-2, Bryce Wehrli 0-3, Isaac Venezio 1-3, Nathan Carr 1-2, Jake Slaybaugh 0-2.

2B — LaGrandeur. RBI — LaGrandeur.

Legion A

Kootenai Valley 11, 

Glacier A 8

Kootenai Valley 11, Glacier A 7

WHITEFISH — The Kootenai Valley Rangers poured on the runs in a two-game sweep of the Glacier Twins A on Wednesday, picking up the doubleheader after it was delayed by rain on Tuesday.

The Rangers trailed 8-5 entering the seventh inning of the opener before racking up six runs in the inning to vault themselves to an 11-8 victory. Ryan Holder went 2 for 5 with four RBIs at the plate, leading a group of four Rangers that finished with at least two RBIs.

“They came up big,” Kootenai Valley coach Brent Holder said. “The kids did a good job of getting on base and they happened to hit in a bunch of runs.”

The Rangers kept it going in the second game, scoring five runs in the first two innings on the way to an 11-7 win. Bryton Guckenberg was the star of the nightcap, knocking in six runs, going 3 for 4 from the plate falling a triple shy of the cycle. Austin Robins knocked in two runs to lead Glacier.

Rangers 11, Twins A 8

Kootenai Valley0203006—1193

Glacier2201300—852

Dalton Smith, Kade Davis (4) and Gallon Sullivan. James Ratzlaff, Austin Robins (7), Robert Reason (7), Nakia Alexander (7) and Zac Darling. W — Davis. L — Ratzlaff. 

Eureka — CJ Henrie 1-3, Bryton Guckenberg 1-4, Ryan Holder 2-5, Kade Davis 1-4, Dalton Smith 2-4, Sullivan 0-5, Nick Rackley 2-3, Mark Good 0-2, Tyler Cummings 0-2, Jamie Soderling 0-0.

2B — Holder, Smith. RBI — Henrie (2), Guckenberg (2), Holder (4), Smith (2).

GLACIER A — Trevor Houston 1-3, Alexander 0-3, Lucas Lee 0-3, Reason 0-2, Darling 1-4, Ryder Hermann 0-1, Ratzlaff 0-2, Branden Maasen 2-4, Kyle Howke 0-1, Logan Blades 1-3, Bret Almos 0-0, Robins 0-2.

RBI — Houston, Alexander, Reason, Darling, Howke, Blades.

Rangers 11, Twins A 7

Kootenai Valley3200402—11103

Glacier2010130—745

Holder, Good (2), Davis (6) and Rackley, Sullivan (2). Maasen, Houston (5) and Darling. W — Good. L — Mason. S — Davis. 

KOOTENAI VALLEY — Henrie 0-4, Guckenberg 3-4, Holder 1-5, Davis 1-5, Smith 1-4, Rackley -0-2, Sullivan 3-3, Good 0-4, Cummings 0-2, Sam Hannay 1-2.

2B — Guckenberg, Smith. HR — Guckenberg. RBI — Guckenberg (6), Davis, Smith, Hannay.

GLACIER — Maasen 0-2, Ratzlaff 1-4, Blades 1-1, Darling 0-1, Robins 1-3, Turgeon 0-3, Hermann 0-3, Chris Joy 0-4, Almos 1-3, Houston 0-1.

RBI — Robins (2), Blades, Darling, Hermann.

Late Tuesday

Mission Valley 1, 

Bitterroot Red Sox 0

Mission Valley 12, 

Bitterroot Red Sox 4

The Mission Valley Mariners A got a pair of key conference wins in a sweep of the Bitterroot Red Sox on Tuesday. 

The Mariners were able to grind out a win in the opener, getting a RBI single from Chris Clary in the first to hang on for a 1-0 win. In the nightcap they got across the plate a lot more, taking advantage of nine errors by the Red Sox to win 12-4. Trevor Zeiler had a double and knocked in two runs for the Mariners.

Bitterroot0000000—041

Mission Valley100000x—171

Jake Capko and Trevor Zeiler. Dalton Molzhon. W — Molzhon L — Capko.

Bitterroot0130000—4109

Mission Valley216102x—12101

Tanner Lehr, Tuff Price (4) and Tucker Lehr. Bradley Pichler and Jack Humphreys. W — Pichler. L — Ta. Lehr.