BASEBALL: Lakers romp at Canadian Days tourney
Dawson Smith dazzled on the mound in game one and Leif Ericksen had a busy day at the plate to lead the Kalispell Lakers AA to two blowout wins at the Canadian Days tournament Saturday afternoon at Griffin Field.
Smith tossed a two-hitter in a 10-0 win over the Mission Valley Mariners in the team’s first game of the day, and the Lakers rolled 9-1 against the Calgary Redbirds AA in the nightcap.
All six scheduled games were played despite soggy field conditions.
“After being on the field all day and prepping the field, the kids were ready to play and I thought we were real sharp in all facets of play,” Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said.
“Offensively we were pretty sharp, we made good contacts even on our outs.”
The story in game one was the 16-year-old Smith, who has emerged as the Lakers’ ace despite his youth. He allowed just two second inning singles to the Mariners in a five-inning complete game and picked up 15 outs on just 43 pitches. Smith struck out five and did not walk a batter, lowering his ERA to a team-leading 1.03.
“He filled the bottom of the zone,” Malmin said of Smith.
“He was incredibly efficient.”
Ericksen tripled twice in the game one win, driving in a run in the first and two more in the Lakers’ five-run fourth inning.
The Lakers (15-4) sent Logan DeCock to the mound to start against the Redbirds and he picked up where Smith left off, going six innings and allowing only five hits.
Ericksen drove in two more runs in the finale and Andrew Schleusner was 2 for 3 with three RBIs.
The Lakers scored three times in the first against Calgary and never looked back.
Tournament action concludes today with a triple-header. The Lakers A team takes on the Calgary Redbirds A at 10 a.m. followed by the Redbirds AA against Mission Valley at 12:30 p.m. The Calgary Cardinals await the Lakers AA at 3 p.m. in the final game.
M. Valley 000 00 — 0 2 3
Kalispell AA 220 51 — 10 9 0
Bransen Krebs, Micah McClure (4) and Corbin Davis, Conner Donohue (5) (MV). Dawson Smith and Andrew Schleusner, Heydn Schlepp (5) (K). W — Smith. L — Krebs.
MISSION VALLEY — Kade Schutzmann 0-2, Jacob Harrod 0-2, Walter Wood 0-2, Anthony Jones 0-2, Julian Jones 1-2, Nyqolas Gillingham 0-2, Tyson Petticrew 1-2, Davis 0-1, Karsen Krebs 0-1, Conner Donohue 0-1.
KALISPELL — Schlepp 1-3, Micah Benson 2-2, Joe Broughton 0-1, Patrick O’Connell 0-3, Leif Ericksen 2-3, Schleusner 1-2, Spencer Pisk 1-2, Jonas Nyman 2-2, Clay Prosser 0-2.
2B — Nyman (K). 3B — Ericksen 2 (K). RBIs — Benson 3, Ericksen 3, Schlepp, O’Connell.
Calgary AA 000 010 0 — 1 5 2
Kalispell AA 300 042 x — 9 7 2
Brady Wilson and Colton Zarowny (C). Logan DeCock, Clay Prosser (7) and Andrew Schleusner (K). W — DeCock. L — Wilson.
CALGARY — Isaiah Malana 1-3, Connor Robbins 0-3, Zarowny 0-3, Trent Lawson 2-3, Manny Rodriguez 1-2, Connor Leavitt 0-3, Nick Taylor 1-2, Shaun Logan 0-3, Jose Rojas 0-3.
KALISPELL — Haydn Schlepp 1-3, Micah Benson 1-2, Joe Broughton 0-2, Patrick O’Connell 1-3, Leif Ericksen 1-2, Schleusner 2-3, Jonas Nyman 0-2, Eric Seaman 0-3, Jayson Combs 1-3.
2B — Lawson (C); O’Connell (K). RBIs — Robbins (C); Schleusner 3, Ericksen 2, Broughton, O’Connell, Nyman.
Kalispell Lakers A 9, Calgary Redbirds AA 1
Drew Scherrer scattered six hits in a complete game and the Lakers scored nine times in the first two innings to roll to victory.
Scherrer struck out six and walked only one in seven innings of work.
The Lakers gave their pitcher all the support he would need just four batters into the game. Jaycob Serrano drove in two with a bases-loaded double, and Kalispell would score three more times before the inning was over, sending 11 men to the plate.
The Lakers added four more in the second on just two hits.
Stultz went 2 for 4 to lead the Lakers offense.
Calgary AA 000 100 0 — 1 6 1
Lakers A 540 000 x — 9 5 2
Nick Taylor, Connor Leavitt (2) and Colton Zalowney (C). Drew Scherrer and Clayton Jaques (K). W — Scherrer. L — Taylor.
CALGARY — Isaiah Malana 2-2, Connor Robbins 0-3, Brady Wilson 1-3, Trent Lawson 1-3, Manny Rodriguez 0-3, Zalowney 1-3, Jon Kummer 0-2, Alex Sorobey 0-2, Jackson Pamkiw 1-2.
KALISPELL — Ryan Symmes 0-2, Tyler Kitch 0-3, Randy Stultz 2-4, Jaycob Serrano 1-4, Jaques 1-3, Nathan Vanderbeek 0-3, Brady Peiffer 0-2, Drew Flink 0-1, Jaryon Venturini 1-2.
2B — Lawson (C); Serrano (K). 3B — Stultz (K). RBIs — Zalowney (C); Serrano 2, Venturini 2, Symmes, Flink (K).
Kalispell Lakers A 13, Calgary Redbirds A 2 (5)
Calgary scored first but the Lakers responded with eight runs in the first two innings to pull away for an easy win.
Kalispell used a six-run second inning to pull way ahead and added five more in the fourth to account for the final margin. Sam Elliott drove in three runs in the win while eight different players notched at least one hit.
Clayton Jaques earned the victory on the hill, allowing four hits and striking out six in five innings.
Calgary A 100 10 — 2 4 3
Kalispell A 260 5x — 13 9 1
Nick King, Diden Gray (4) and Adham Young (C). Clayton Jaques and Keaden Morisaki (K). W — Jaques. L — King.
CALGARY — Dale Bratz 0-1, Hailey 1-2, Cory Lawson 1-3, Wyatt Stevens 1-2, Young 0-1, Brett Knibs 0-2, Will Shudra 0-1, Nathan Barf 1-2, Carson Prevertt 0-2, King 0-2.
KALISPELL — Ryan Symmes 1-2, Randy Stultz 1-3, Jaycob Serrano 1-2, Sam Elliott 1-2, Morisaki 1-3, Adam Joy 2-3, Jayron Venturini 1-3, Nathan Vanderbeek 0-1, Jaques 1-2, Tyler Kitch 0-1.
2B — Stultz, Serrano (K). RBIs — Stevens, Barf (C); Elliott 3, Serrano 2, Venturini 2, Stultz, Morisaki, Joy, Vanderbeek, Jaques (K).
Mission Valley Mariners 13, Calgary Cardinals 3 (5)
Julian Jones allowed just a single hit in four innings and launched a two-run home run in his first at bat to lead the Mariners to a runaway win.
Jones made the score 3-0 when he drove a 1-1 pitch out of the park with two outs in the first inning. He went 3 for 3 at the plate, part of a 15-hit Mission Valley onslaught.
On the mound, Jones struck out nine to earn the victory. The Cardinals benefited from five walks and four Mariners errors to score three times despite just one hit.
Kade Schutzmann went 4 for 4 from the leadoff spot for Mission Valley. Schutzman stole three bases and scored three runs in the win. Walter Wood added three RBIs.
Calgary 102 00 — 3 1 2
M. Valley 511 15 — 13 15 4
Matt Johnson and Nick Derhun, Matt Hosman (4) (C). Julian Jones, Tyson Petticrew (5) and Izyk Gillingham (MV). W — Jones. L — Johnson.
CALGARY — Ted Kazok 0-1, Hosman 1-3, Johnson 0-3, Derhun 0-2, Chris Dobbyn 0-2, Curtis Eremko 0-1, Bryce Nicholson 0-2, Dylan Kibblewhite 0-1, Jacob Oswald 0-1, Logan Watmough 0-0, Justin Nicholson 0-0, Keaton Aitken 0-0.
MISSION VALLEY — Kade Schutzmann 4-4, Jacob Harrod 1-4, Walter Wood 1-4, Anthony Jones 1-4, J. Jones 3-3, Nyqolas Gillingham 0-2, Tyler Kelsch 1-4, I. Gillingham 1-3, Bransen Krebs 2-3, Petticrew 1-1, Karsen Krebs 0-0, Bryant Hales 0-0.
2B — Kelsch (P). HR — J. Jones (P). RBIs — Wood 3, Harrod 2, J. Jones 2, Kelsch, I. Gillingham, Petticrew (P).
Calgary Cardinals 6, Calgary Redbirds A 3
The Cardinals won a crosstown battle to round out Saturday’s tournament action. No further information was available.
Glacier Twins, Red Sox series rained out
The Glacier Twins A and B teams both had cancelations in matchups with the Bitterroot Red Sox A and B teams.
Glacier was to host games Saturday and today, but the nonconference outings were washed out because of rain.
The Glacier Twins A and B squads will play the Kalispell Lakers AA and A in a three-game Memorial Day series. That begins Saturday with the Lakers hosting.
The Lakers are home again on Monday.
The series heads to Whitefish for two games on Sunday.
The Lakers AA and Twins A play at 7 p.m. all three days. The Lakers A and Twins B play at 4 p.m. each day.