High school baseball debuts in Whitefish, Butte wins battle of the Bulldogs

WHITEFISH — History was made on the baseball field Thursday afternoon as the Whitefish Bulldogs held their first ever home opener at Memorial Field against the Butte Bulldogs in a nonconference game that the visitors won 10-2.

Butte’s starting pitcher Gavin Trudgeon took home the win after pitching four innings and allowing one run. Designated hitter Zach Tierney had two doubles for Butte and Jimmy Blow drove in two runs to power the visitors offense.

Whitefish pitcher Jacob Polumbus etched his name in the Whitefish baseball history books by earning the start in the inaugural home opener. Polumbus worked three innings on the bump while allowing two runs.

The score sat at 5-1 as Butte stepped to the plate in the top of the sixth when the visiting Bulldogs offense put together a four run two-out-rally to make it 9-1. At this point gray skies made their way into the picture and rain had been falling off and on since the start of the fifth but Whitefish continued to fight as Mack McLaughlin hit a line drive single to left and then stole second and third. McLaughlin would come around to score on a Butte balk to make things 9-2.

“We had a lot of competitive at bats, guys were standing in taking their swings… Obviously the result wasn’t what we wanted but I’m fully confident in this team performing much better down the road and we are ready to roll tomorrow against Eureka,” Whitefish coach Kyler Blades said.

Butte tacked on another run in the top of the seventh and held Whitefish scoreless in the bottom half of the inning despite Whitefish center fielder Jake McIntyre roping a line drive double off the wall in the left-center field.

Blades noted the strong play to start the season from the senior center fielder.

“Jake McIntyre continues to hit the ball really hard, put the ball off the wall,” he said.

Blades also mentioned he was happy with the “smooth” play of shortstop Maddox Muller.

The Bulldogs are back at it today as they travel to Eureka for a 3 p.m. game.

“Our other guys, our other seniors are gonna step up, and we’re fully confident moving forward,” Blades said.

Butte 101 124 1 - 10

Whitefish 010 001 0 - 2

Gavin Trudgeon and Tyler Duffey

Jacob Polumbus and Fynn Ridgeway

BUTTE — S. Osello 1-2, C. Stajcar 0-4, A. Knott 3-5, Z. Tierney 2-2, J. Blow 1-1, T. Hansen 0-4, A. Jorgensen 1-4, E. Cunningham 0-2, D. Dunmire 0-2, M. Armstrong 0-0, T. Duffy 0-1, Z. O’Connell 0-1. RBI — Blow 2, Jorgensen 1, Knott 1, Ossello 1. 2B - Tierney 2, Blow.

WHITEFISH — Jacob Polumbus 0-2, Michael Miller 0-1, Brady Howke 0-1, Maddox Muller 1-3, Fynn Ridgeway 1-3, Jake McIntyre 1-3, Josiah Ruther 0-3, Ty Schwaiger 1-4, Logan Kunz 1-3, Clayton Godsey 0-2, Birney Grantz 0-1, Christian Schwaderer 0-1, Mack McLaughlin 1-1.

RBI — Godsey. 2B — McIntyre.