Lakers AA, Scarlets split for second straight day
BILLINGS — Kostya Hoffman threw six strong innings and the Kalispell Lakers used a 6-run sixth inning to rally past the Billings Scarlets 8-6 in AA American Legion baseball Saturday.
The Lakers ended up with a doubleheader split with the Scarlets, for the second straight day: Billings walked them off 9-8 in Saturday’s second game.
On Friday the Lakers (23-9-1 overall, 3-5 in league) won the first game 5-3 and the Scarlets took the late one 6-4.
Down 3-1 in Saturday’s first game, the Lakers’ combined three walks with one hit batter, three hits and two double steals in their big inning. Gabe Brink’s 2-run single helped Kalispell to a 6-3 lead; Brink then took part in a double steal that scored Carver Van Aken.
Earlier in the inning Kael Willis stole second to help get Joseph Schlegel home for a run.
Hoffman allowed eight hits and three walks in six innings on the hill, striking out four. He helped his own cause with an RBI single in the first. Just two of the Scarlets’ six runs were earned.
Willis drove in two runs and Schlegel scored twice.
In the nightcap the Lakers built leads of 3-0 and 8-4, but the Scarlets kept coming back. Logan Nyberg’s RBI double with two out in the bottom of the seventh gave Billings the win.
Ethan Diede had an RBI single in the Lakers’ 3-run first inning; a run-scoring balk and Joe Schlegel’s 2-run single keyed a 5-run fifth.
Ayden Driear gave up just three hits, but two were home runs. Still, just three of the six runs he allowed in four innings were earned.
Saturday
First game
Lakers AA 100 006 1 - 8 9 4
Scarlets 012 003 0 - 6 9 1
Kostya Hoffman, Danny Kernan (7) and Kael Willis. McDowell, Jackson Schaubel (3), Max Murphy (6) and Rocco Gioioso
KALISPELL LAKERS AA — Carver Van Aken 1-3, Gage Brink 2-4, Hoffman 1-3, Kernan 0-3, Joseph Schlegel 3-4, Kael Willis 2-2, Ethan Diede 0-3, Elijah Owens 0-4, Devon Wallace 0-1, Ayden Driear 0-1.
BILLINGS SCARLETS — Nate McDonald 1-2, Kyler Northrup 2-4, Michael Feralio 0-3, Rocco Gioioso 1-4, Spencer Berger 0-3, Jackson Schaubel 1-4, Max Murphy 0-1, Jaden Sanchez 0-4, Logan Nyberg 3-4, Jaxon Brandt 1-4.
2B — Schlegel. RBI — Brink 2, Willis 2, Hoffman, Gioioso 2, McDonald, Northrup, Schaubel, Nyberg.
Second game
Lakers 350 000 0 - 8 6 4
Scarlets 400 211 1 - 9 5 4
Driear, Schlegel (5) and Grady Drish. Berger, Kolten Wynia and Ryan Nelson.
LAKERS — Van Aken 0-2, Brink 1-3, Diede 2-4, Kernan 1-3, Schlegel 1-4, Willis 0-4, Hoffman 0-3, Owens 1-2, Devon Wallack 0-0, Drish 0-3.
SCARLETS — McDonald 1-3, Luke Tallman 1-4, Gioioso 0-3, Schaubel 0-2, Northrup 0-2, Nyberg 1-4, Murphy 1-3, Nelson 0-2, Brandt 0-0.
2B — Kernan, Northrup. HR — Murphy, Tallman. RBI — Brink, Diede, Schlegel, Murphy 2, Tallman 2, McDonald, Northrup, Nyberg.
Scarlets 6, Lakers 4 (Fri.)
The Lakers managed just four hits but closed to 4-3 on Carver Van Aken’s RBI single in the sixth, and loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh. They managed just one run, when Elijah Owens walked to force in Hoffman.
In between Rocco Gioioso hit a 2-run single for the Scarlets to put them ahead 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth.
Caleb Morgan threw five innings for the Lakers, scattering five hits and three walks. He fanned five and hit one batter.
Late Friday
Lakers 001 011 1 - 4 4 4
Scarlets 102 102 x - 6 7 1
Caleb Morgan, Brink (6) and Willis. Jaiden Turner, Jadyn Averill (6), Sanchez (7) and Gioioso.
LAKERS AA — Diede 0-3, Brink 1-3, Hoffman 0-3, Kernan 1-3, Schlegel 0-3, Driear 0-3, Owen Schilling 0-1, Owens 1-3, Van Aken 1-2.
SCARLETS — McDonald 1-2, Northrup 1-4, Feralio 2-4, Gioioso 1-3, Berger 0-4, Schaubel 1-4, Sanchez 1-2, Murphy; 0-3, Brandt 0-2.
2B — McDonald. RBI — Hoffman, Kernan, Owens, Van Aken, Gioioso 2, Northrup, Schaubel, Sanchez.