Twins fall to Gallatin Valley in State A championship
HAVRE — The Glacier Twins were right there, until they weren’t.
Josh Majors drove in three runs to back the pitching of Patrick Dieiz and the Gallatin Valley Outlaws downed the Glacier Twins 10-0 for the State A Legion baseball championship Monday.
The Twins, who ended up 51-16, were gunning for their third state crown in eight seasons and first since 2018. For the Outlaws (55-21), who draw players primarily from Manhattan and Three Forks, it was the first title since 2005.
After rallying in the seventh to walk off the Twins 6-5 on Saturday, Gallatin Valley ended this game in five innings under the mercy rule. Dieiz was very strong, allowing three hits and a walk. He hit one batter and struck out seven.
“He kind of kept us off balance,” Twins’ coach Kevin Slaybaugh said. “But we were extremely flat. We just didn’t hit. We didn’t hit our normal way all through the tournament. We couldn’t get going.”
The Twins’ 3-2 run through the tourney was big on pitching, including Stevyn Andrachick’s gem in a 2-1 win over Belgrade Sunday that put them in the championship.
“That was probably the best pitching of the tournament for us,” Slaybaugh said. “Zach Veneman pitched a real good game (in an 8-3 win over Laurel Saturday), and the rest of the pitching was good enough to win the thing if we’d just hit a little bit.”
Andrachick had two of the Twins’ three hits Monday, including a triple with two out in the third.
Glacier’s George Robbins was holding his own on the mound until the Outlaws broke through for five runs in the fourth. Majors had a 2-run single to spark the rally and Cyrus Richardson capped it with another 2-run base hit to put Gallatin Valley ahead 6-0.
Two wild pitches and another RBI single by Majors did most of the damage in a 4-run fifth inning by the Outlaws.
Slaybaugh noted again the youth of the squad, including Mikey Glass.
“Mikey Glass, our second baseman, had a pretty good tournament,” he said. “He hit well, ran the bases really well and he pitched too. He had a really nice tourney.
“We’re a young team. I hate to use that excuse, but we are real young. I think they learned a real lesson, that you’d better be ready to go.
“Getting everybody except Zach next year, we should be that much stronger. It’s a great bunch of kids. I just can’t say enough about them.”
Outlaws 010 54 - 10 10 1
Twins 000 00 - 0 3 3
Patrick Dieiz and Brandon Beedie. George Robbins, Mason Peters (5) and Danny Dunn.
GALLATIN VALLEY OUTLAWS — Brady Jones 1-3, Isaac Richardson 0-3, Cyrus Richardson 2-2, Brody Ayers 0-3, Bo Hayz 1-2, Josh Wisecarver 1-2, Beedie 2-3, Josh Majors 2-3, Trevor Doud 1-2.
GLACIER TWINS — Peters 0-3, Stevyn Andrachick 2-3, Zach Veneman 0-3, Jacob Polumbus 1-2, Mikey Glass 0-2, Dunn 0-1, Robbins 0-2, Hayden Meehan 0-2, Taylor Bryan 0-1.
2B — C.Richardson. 3B — Andrachick. RBI — Majors 3, C.Richardson 2, IRichardson, Jones, Beedie.