Baseball: Lakers drop opener at state tourney

BILLINGS — The Kalispell Lakers lost 2-1 to the Bozeman Bucks in the first round of the Class AA American Legion baseball state tournament at Dehler Park Wednesday, despite a strong outing from pitcher Justin Wallace.

Wallace allowed just one earned run in an eight-inning complete game, but the Lakers only mustered two hits against Bozeman’s combination of Cody Cooper and Jake Willard.

Bozeman took a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning when Joel Thayer — who reached on an error — scored on a single by Conner Linebarger. The Bucks added their second run in the eighth when Thayer hit a leadoff double, advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Linebarger.

“He threw a great game for us,” Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said of Wallace. “We played great defense, but we had two miscues on pop-ups to start the (sixth) and the eighth innings. Those are two plays that we make pretty much day in and day out.”

Cooper struck out six in 8.1 innings to earn the win for Bozeman.

“We were pretty tentative offensively,” Malmin said. “We weren’t as aggressive as we would like to see. Cooper did a great job of throwing a pitchers’ strike. He was touching black most of the time with his fastball and we didn’t make an adjustment to it. Just not as aggressive as we’d like to see at the plate, which is disappointing.”

The Lakers rallied in the ninth as Chris Combs drew a walk to lead off the inning and scored on a double by Charlie Obermiller. Cooper induced a groundout from Lakers first baseman Dillon Eaves for the first out and Willard came out of the bullpen to record the final two outs.

The Lakers play the Billings Scarlets in loser-out action today at 12:30 p.m. Malmin said Eaves will get the start on the mound. Bozeman will take on the Great Falls Chargers at 7 p.m.

Also on Wednesday, the Billings Royals beat the Medicine Hat (Alberta) Monarchs 4-0, the Missoula Mavericks beat the Helena Senators 8-6 and Great Falls beat the Scarlets 10-2.

Kalispell 000 000 001 — 1 2 2

Bozeman 000 001 01x — 2 5 3

Justin Wallace and Adam Frandsen. Cody Cooper, Jake Willard (9) and Nate Lamberty. W - Cooper. L - Wallace. S - Willard.

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

BOZEMAN - Joel Thayer 1-3, Bennett Hostetler 0-1, Conner Linebarger 2-3, Jake Eckstrom 0-3, Matt Hape 1-4, Lamberty 0-2, Tucker Gill 0-2, Chad Mackay 0-2, Jenner Kearns 1-1, Nick Winn 0-3.

2B - Obermiller; Thayer, Kearns. RBIs - Obermiller; Linebarger 2.

Billings Royals 4, Medicine Hat 0

Royals 002 010 001 — 4 10 0

Med. Hat 000 000 000 — 0 7 1

Konner Weichman and Tanner Leenknecht. Brad Paradis, Kaid Lutz and Konner Lutz. W - Weichman. L - Paradis.

ROYALS - Joe Zimmer 1-5, Konner Weichman 2-5, T.J. Jacobs 0-4, Chance Ackerman 2-4, Matt Shelhamer 2-3, Tanner Leenknecht 0-5, Ryan Walla 1-3, Wyatt Summers 0-0, D.J. Baxter 0-0, Taylor Goselin 2-3, Matt Dillon 0-3.

MEDICINE HAT - Lane Aman 1-4, Braden Goldade 0-3, Konner Lutz 1-4, Andy Scott 0-4, Nolan Rattai 1-4, Austin Weisgerber 1-4, Brendan Schafer 1-3, Austin Schibler 0-3, Tanner Ross 2-3, Kevin Ellefson 0-0.

2B - Zimmer. 3B - Shelhamer, Goselin. RBIs - Ackerman, Shelhamer 3.

Missoula 8, Helena 6

Helena 100 012 200 — 6 14 4

Missoula 100 040 12x — 8 12 4

Ryan Estep, Riley Pickens (8) and Reed Carter. Tres Cunningham, Nathan Jewett (9) and Slade Heggen. W - Cunningham. L - Estep. S - Jewett.

HELENA - Lee Mueller 2-5, Marcus Lingren 1-5, Troy Arntson 2-4, Dan Hansen 2-3, Jarin Gassett 3-4, Tristan Shea 1-4, Brad Tiefenthaler 2-4, Colin Volesky 0-3, Reed Carter 1-3, Nick Wrigg 0-1.

MISSOULA - Slade Heggen 3-5, Tres Cunnigham 0-4, Shane Olson 1-4, Nathan Jewett 1-4, Josh Meader 0-4, Alec Bouchee 2-4, Jesson Preston 2-4, Matt McHugh 1-3, Tanner Reinschmidt 2-3. 3B: Heggen.

2B - Shea. 3B - Heggen. HR - Olson. RBIs - Mueller, Hansen 2, Shea; Heggen 2, Olson 4, Jewett, McHugh.

Great Falls 10, Billings Scarlets 2

Scarlets 000 100 100 — 2 9 3

Great Falls 013 001 50x — 10 14 4

Michael Merchant, Jordan Harris (7) and Nick Funyak. Dalton Cook, Lucas Poitra (8) and Justin Pfennigs. W - Cook. L - Merchant.

SCARLETS - Torry Huppert 2-4, Cole Jones 0-4, Funyak 2-4, Gage Hinsz 0-3, Shelby Zorn 0-4, Collin Maier 2-5, Gordon Sveinson 0-4, Brayden Wickam 1-4, Ian Byorth 0-1, Christian Martinson 2-4.

GREAT FALLS - Anthony Bonilla 3-5, Erik Willis 2-5, Jayse McLean 0-4, Cook 2-4, Wyatt Eckert 0-2, Tyler Pfennigs 2-4, J. Pfennigs 2-4, Poitra 1-3, Colton Philp 2-4.

2B - Funyak, Willis 2; T. Pfennigs. 3B - Philp. RBIs - Maier, Wickam; T. Pfennigs 2, Cook 2, Bonilla, Willis, McLean, J. Pfennigs, Poitra.