Legion baseball: Twins ride pitching to sweep of Mariners

by The Daily Inter Lake
| June 16, 2015 11:25 PM

POLSON — Squaring off in an American Legion baseball doubleheader, the Glacier Twins picked up two road victories over the Mission Valley Mariners on Tuesday, sweeping the home team 5-3 in Game 1 and 10-2 in the nightcap.

The first game was a thriller.

Mission Valley opened up Game 1 of the twinbill with two runs in the bottom of the first.

Glacier got one back in the top of the fourth before taking the lead with two more runs in the fifth.

The advantage was short-lived.

The Mariners responded in the bottom of the fifth by pushing a run across the plate to tie the game at 3.

A scoreless seventh inning for both offenses sent the game to extra innings, and Glacier didn’t hesitate to reclaim the lead.

After scoring two runs in the top of the eighth, Twins pitcher AJ Wetsch, who struck out nine batters in his complete-game performance, shut down the Mariners in the bottom half of the eighth for the victory.

Glacier’s Vincent Smith went 2 for 3 at the plate, both hits going for doubles. Colten Parker finished 2 for 4 with a double and a triple, and teammate Derek Kastella had a team-high two RBIs for the Twins.

Derek Peel and Jacob Harrod led the Mariners. Each had two hits in four at-bats. Peel also went the distance on the mound, striking out four in eight innings.

The Twins made things a little easier on themselves in Game 2.

Glacier scored five runs in the first inning, adding four more in the top of the sixth to all but clinch the game.

Smith finished with three RBIs, adding run support for pitcher Jonny Sapa. Sapa earned a complete-game victory for Glacier, scattering seven hits in as many innings while striking out three batters.

Peel led the Mariners offensive in the finale. He collected his fifth hit of the night, going 3 for 4 in Game 2.

Glacier 000 120 02 — 5 9 3

Mission Valley 200 010 00 — 3 9 3

WP — AJ Wetsch. LP — Derek Peel

GLACIER — Colten Parker 2-4, Jayce Fagerland 1-3, Kyler Howke 0-4, Vincent Smith 2-3, Jesse Walburn 1-4, Derek Kastela 3-4, Austin Robbins 0-4, Tristin Steinwand 0-4, James Sampson-Keck 0-3.

MISSION VALLEY — Derek Peel 2-4, Jacob Harrod 2-4, Warren Wood 1-3, Tyson Pettigrew 1-1, Bransen Krebs 1-4, Micah McClure 0-3, Nyqolas Gillingham 1-3, Jonah Burke 1-3, Justin Young 0-2, Kade Schutzmann 0-3.

2B — Smith 2, Parker, Kastela; Peel, Harrod, Burke. 3B — Walburn. RBIs — Parker, Kastella 2, Steinwand; Harrod, McClure.

Glacier 500 104 0 — 10 8 2

Mission Valley 100 000 1 — 2 7 6

WP — Jonny Sapa, LP — Jacob Harrod

First Game

Bitterroot 9,

Kootenai Valley 6

Second Game

Bitterroot 8,

Kootenai Valley 3

FLORENCE — The Kootenai Valley Rangers dropped a pair of American Legion baseball games against the Bitterroot Bucs on Tuesday.

The Rangers outhit Bitterroot 10-9 in the opener but dropped Game 1 9-6 without holding a lead.

For the second straight game, the Bucs scored two runs in the first inning, jumping out to an early 2-0 advantage in the nightcap.

Rangers’ CJ Henrie battled Bitterroot’s Bo Zeiler on the mound. Each threw all seven innings, but Zeiler earned the win as the Bucs swept Kootenai Valley with an 8-3 victory in Game 2.

Game 1

Kootenai Valley 001 020 3 — 6 10 3

Bitterroot 220 032 x — 9 9 2

Garrett McNeil, Moe Henderson (6) and James Dunn. Drue McCawley, Brayden Loveless (6), Jacob Skully (7) and Bo Zeiler. W — McCawley. L — McNeil.

Game 2

Kootenai Valley 002 100 0 — 3 7 5

Bitterroot 200 033 x — 8 12 1

CJ Henrie and Dunn. Bo Zeiler and Drue McCawley. W — Zeiler. L — Henrie.