Lakers AA down Chargers in Great Falls opener

by Daily Inter Lake
| July 14, 2021 8:59 PM

GREAT FALLS — The bottom of the order helped the Kalispell AA Lakers come out on top Wednesday, in a 7-5 win over Great Falls in Legion baseball at Centene Field.

Joseph Schlegel, Kael Willis, Elijah Owens and Grady Drish combined for four hits, five runs batted in and four runs scored in the first game of a AA doubleheader. The second game had not been decided at press time.

Drish hit a 2-run single that knotted the game at 2-2 in the fifth inning, and Willis’s 2-run single was the big blow in the Lakers’ 5-run outburst in the sixth. Carver Van Aken hit a two-out single to cap the rally and stake Kalispell to a 7-2 lead.

Kael Richards’s homer in the third inning had given the Chargers a 2-0 lead, and Great Falls brought the tying run to the plate with none out in the seventh.

Kostya Hoffman retired the next three Chargers on fly outs to end it. Hoffman went the distance on the hill, scattering eight hits and two walks in seven innings. He allowed four earned runs, and struck out three.

Lakers AA 000 025 0 - 7 6 1

Chargers 002 002 1 - 5 8 4

Kostya Hoffman and Grady Drish. Cam M, Fox W (6) and Kellen Lawhen.

KALISPELL LAKERS AA — Carver Van Aken 1-4, Gage Brink 0-3, Ethan Diede 0-4, Danny Kernan 0-4, Hoffman 1-3, Joseph Schlegel 1-4, Kael Willis 2-3, Elijah Owens 0-2, Drish 1-3.

GREAT FALLS CHARGERS — Nate Fowler 2-3, Kael Richards 2-4, Trigg Mapes 1-4, Cam McNamee 2-3, Fox Weymouth 0-1, Keeton Clark 0-2, Lawhen 1-3, Josey Himderager 0-3, Ryan Hartum 0-2, Josh Banderob 0-1, Hunter Houck 0-2.

2B — Fowler. HR — Richards. RBI — Willis 2, Drish 2, Van Aken, Schlegel, Richards 3, Clark, Himderager.