BASEBALL: Kalispell Lakers AA slide past Libby Loggers

Minutes after the final out was recorded, the Kalispell Lakers were running silent sprints under the watchful eye of their coaches in the outfield grass.

And they were the winning team.

One week to the day after a 22-5 blowout win in Libby, Kalispell’s Class AA team nearly frittered away an early 5-0 lead in the rematch, surviving to claim a 9-8 victory against the Class A Loggers on Wednesday night at Griffin Field.

“We kind of evaluate ourselves and the bottom line is we didn’t win because we didn’t come out and compete like we normally do,” Lakers manager Ryan Malmin said. “And that’s not to discredit Libby, they did a great job coming back … we just were way too lackadaisical from what we expect from these guys.”

Libby did not wilt after a rocky start and the Loggers had a chance to tie the game in the ninth inning. Down two entering their final at bat, Libby got a two-out single from Tanner Wood before Nate Wisdom walked. Wood came around to score on the third of three wild pitches, moving pinch runner Taylor Wisdom to third base representing the tying run. Tim Carvey then worked a full count before Joe Broughton threw a high fastball by him to end the game with Wisdom just 90 feet away.

“You hate to put moral victories on losses too much, but I told the guys there’s not a Class A team in the state as good as (the Lakers) AA team and if we can compete with these guys we can compete with anybody,” Loggers coach Kelly Morford said.

“We were just a few mistakes away from winning that game. I was proud of the way they hung in there.”

The Lakers were coming off a three-game weekend sweep of the Glacier Twins and played Wednesday without their regular starting catcher and top pitcher. Still, Kalispell was in control of the game in the early going, with lefty Clay Prosser starting and getting through the first three innings unscathed.

Ten Lakers got their turn at the plate in a five-run second inning, with Jayson Combs, Haydn Schlepp and Tiler Whiteaker all delivering run-scoring singles. The hosts took advantage of a walk, an error and four wild pitches during the rally.

Libby was hitless into the fourth where the Loggers loaded the bases against Prosser on a wild pitch, a hit by pitch and an error. Shayne Walker then stepped in and drove a double into the gap in right-center, scoring all three runs and trimming the Lakers lead to 5-3.

Even as the Loggers rallied, the Lakers never gave up the lead. Kalispell scored twice in the bottom of the fourth and twice more in the sixth to pull ahead 9-5 before Libby’s single tallies in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Spencer Pisk had a run-scoring triple in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth.

The Lakers used three different pitchers in the win, with Micah Benson relieving Prosser to start the fifth and firing three innings to earn the win. Broughton was credited with a save.

“We had three guys that were able to get some innings on the mound just to develop that depth in the pitching rotation and that was really important for us,” Malmin said.

Prosser, Benson and Broughton combined to allow seven walks, hit four Loggers and threw seven wild pitches. Malmin, while happy to get innings from the trio, was less pleased with their command and execution.

“We’ve been very good at keeping the ball down in the zone and forcing hitters to put the ball in play and today we weren’t,” Malmin said.

Pisk finished 3 for 4, adding a double in the third, and Dawson Smith went 3 for 5 and scored three times to pace the Lakers’ attack. Kalispell cracked 13 hits against four Libby pitchers.

Walker drove in a game-high four runs for Libby and Erik Lauer was 2 for 5 with two RBIs. Lauer also started on the mound, lasting 4 2/3 innings and allowing seven runs on 10 hits, suffering the loss.

The Lakers open conference play on Sunday when they host the Missoula Mavericks at 2 p.m. Libby begins its conference slate Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Glacier Twins.

Libby 000 320 111 — 8 7 3

Kalispell 050 202 00x — 9 13 1

Erik Lauer, Braydan Thom (5), Tim Carvey (7), Shayne Walker (8) and Dylon Lane (L). Clay Prosser, Micah Benson (5), Joe Broughton (8) and Haydn Schlepp, Tiler Whiteaker (K). W — Benson. L — Lauer. S — Broughton.

LIBBY — Carvey 0-4, Collin Johnson 0-3, Lane 0-1, Lauer 2-5, Thom 1-3, Walker 1-4, Tanner Schutz 0-3, Logan Brickey 0-1, Anthony Johnson 1-3, Tanner Wood 2-2, Giovanni Cano 0-3, Joe Reynolds 0-1, Nate Wisdon 0-0, Taylor Wisdom 0-0.

KALISPELL — Schlepp 2-5, Benson 1-5, Broughton 0-0, Whiteaker 2-4, Dawson Smith 3-5, Spencer Pisk 3-4, Jonas Nyman 0-3, Logan DeCock 0-1, Eric Seaman 2-4, Jayson Combs 0-3, Prosser 0-2.

2B — Lauer, Walker (L); Pisk (K). 3B — Pisk (K). RBIs — Walker 4, Lauer 2, Wood (L); Whiteaker 2, Pisk 2, Combs 2, Schlepp, Seaman (K).