Lakers split with Bucks

The Kalispell Lakers snapped a three-game losing streak with an 11-4 win over the Bozeman Bucks in the nightcap of an American Legion baseball doubleheader at Griffin Field Wednesday.

The Bucks won game one 6-4 and the two teams remained fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Montana-Alberta AA standings with one week remaining before the state tournament in Billings.

The Lakers (27-25 overall, 10-10 conference) had already clinched a spot in the eight-team tournament prior to Wednesday’s games, but their seed is still up for grabs.

“We want to place pretty high at state, so we needed to beat them in order to get up there,” outfielder Chris Combs said. “I’m glad we won at least one of them.”

Combs got the offense off to a quick start in the first inning of game two, roping the first pitch he saw down the left-field line for a leadoff triple. Charlie Obermiller followed with an RBI groundout and the Lakers led the rest of the game, adding one run in the second, three in the third and three in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Combs finished 3 for 4 with a triple and two doubles, Sean O’Connell batted 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs and Dillon Eaves and Dillon Matteson had two hits apiece.

Eaves was the winning pitcher, recording seven strikeouts in six innings while allowing three runs on five hits.

“Chris getting that triple to lead off the game and Charlie scoring him, as a pitcher that’s huge getting on the board first,” Eaves said. “Especially after retiring the side without a run. I was lucky enough to have good defense behind me again. Obviously the bats woke up and we hit pretty well.”

Bozeman (31-28, 12-10) had played nine games the previous seven days and game two starting pitcher Cody Cooper left after two innings with a shoulder injury, giving Lakers coach Ryan Malmin hope that his offense would wake up after a disappointing showing in game one.

“I knew that their pitching staff was kind of at the bottom of the tank so I felt that we’d be all right,” Malmin said. “Dillon has been a bulldog for us all year. We know that he’s tough to beat and having him on the bump kind of reassures things, and I figured that we’d be able to do more scoring as well.”

The Lakers tallied five hits in the first three innings of game one but failed to score. Pitcher Justin Wallace kept them in the game by retiring 12 Bucks in a row, but he ran into trouble in in the fifth when two hits, a wild pitch and an error allowed Bozeman to take a 1-0 lead.

The Bucks tacked on two more in the sixth before Eaves scored Kalispell’s first run on a throwing error by Bozeman shortstop Bennett Hostetler.

The Bucks took a 6-1 lead in the seventh, but the Lakers didn’t go away quietly. Chris Sibley scored when Eaves was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Sean O’Connell followed with a two-run single to left field, but Bozeman reliever Nelson Brown retired the next two hitters to strand the tying run at first base.

“I definitely think we could’ve done more,” Eaves said. “We woke up the bats a little too late. (Wallace) pitched a hell of a first four innings and he even continued that into the fifth and sixth. He just battles up there. We could’ve woke up the bats a little sooner for him, it’s kind of unfortunate, but we’ll bounce back and get them for him on Saturday.”

Combs batted 2 for 3 and was the only Laker with multiple hits in game one. Hostetler and Jake Ekstrom each went 2 for 4 for Bozeman. Jake Willard earned the win, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out three.

The Lakers travel to Medicine Hat, Alberta, today for a doubleheader, then wrap up the regular season Saturday with a doubleheader at home against Medicine Hat.

“We know that we’re going to state, it’s just a matter of what seed we’re going to finish with,” Malmin said. “Our concern is to play good baseball right now. We see little bits of it here and there in all facets, but it’s still not all together right now.”

Bozeman 000 012 3 — 6 9 1

Kalispell 000 001 3 — 4 8 3

Jake Willard, Nelson Brown (7) and Chad Mackay, Nate Lamberty (7). Justin Wallace and Adam Frandsen. W - Willard. L - Wallace. S - Brown.

BOZEMAN - Joel Thayer 1-4, Bennett Hostetler 2-4, Conner Linebarger 1-4, Jake Ekstrom 2-4, Cody Cooper 1-3, Tucker Gill 1-3, Mackay 0-2, Lamberty 0-1, Jenner Kearns 0-2, Nick Winn 1-3.

KALISPELL - Chris Combs 2-3, Charlie Obermiller 1-3, Dillon Eaves 1-2, Sean O’Connell 1-3, Dillon Matteson 0-4, Robert Reaser 1-3, Frandsen 0-3, Chris Sibley 1-3, Luke LaFontaine 1-2, Jake Barstow 0-1.

3B - Reaser. RBIs - Hostetler 2, Ekstrom, Winn; O’Connell 2, Eaves.

Bozeman 000 210 1 — 4 6 3

Kalispell 113 033 x — 11 12 2

Cody Cooper, Nate Lamberty (3), Nelson Brown (4), Chad Mackay (5) and Mackay, Jake Willard (5). Dillon Eaves, Colton Wiley (7) and Adam Frandsen. W - Eaves. L - Cooper.

BOZEMAN - Joel Thayer 1-4, Bennett Hostetler 1-3, Conner Linebarger 1-2, Jake Ekstrom 0-2, Tucker Gill 1-2, Jenner Kearns 0-4, Mackay 1-3, Willard 1-2, Nick Winn 0-3.

KALISPELL - Chris Combs 3-4, Charlie Obermiller 1-3, Eaves 2-4, Sean O’Connell 3-4, Dillon Matteson 2-3, Robert Reaser 0-2, Frandsen 1-4, Jake Barstow 0-3, Luke LaFontaine 0-3.

2B - Linebarger; Combs 2, O’Connell. 3B - Combs. RBIs - Linebarger; O’Connell 2, Matteson 2, Obermiller, Eaves, Reaser, Frandsen.