Twins finish third at State A
LAUREL — Maddox Muller was sterling in relief and the tying run was on third in the seventh inning Sunday, but the Glacier Twins lost 3-2 to the Laurel Dodgers at the State A Legion baseball tournament.
The host Dodgers advanced to the Montana/Alberta championship against Belgrade — the Bandits won the title game 4-2 — thanks in large part to the pitching of Maverick Hopman, who threw all seven innings for Laurel.
“We played pretty well this tournament but our bats were on and off all week,” Twins coach Kevin Slaybaugh said. “In the semifinals we got down three early. Maddox Muller came in relief and gave us a chance. We just couldn’t overcome the three runs."
The Twins ended up with a 31-11 record and a third-place trophy. They were hunting their third State A title and first since 2018; they were second at the 2021 tournament.
Hoppman allowed seven hits and no walks, struck out three and kept his one rough inning from erasing a 3-0 Laurel lead.
In that fourth inning Kellen Kroger and Tristan Butts hit singles for Glacier, and Jake McIntyre’s sacrifice fly brought in Kroger with the Twins’ first run.
Michael Muller added an RBI single to bring in Butts and make it 3-2, before a fielder’s choice and fly out ended that threat.
From there Glacier managed one hit: A two-out single by McIntyre in the sixth. He was stranded.
In the Twins’ seventh inning, leadoff hitter Sam Hall reached on an error, was bunted to second and moved to third on a groundout. Then Hoppman got a fly out to clinch the win for the Dodgers.
"The season didn’t turn out how we liked but winning the conference, winning the district tournament along with third at the state tournament is still pretty respectable," Slaybaugh said. "I’m proud of our guys for a great season.”
Each team had seven hits; McIntyre had two for Glacier. Jace Buchanan had three hits for Laurel, including a leadoff homer in the third inning that made it 3-0.
Shortly after that Muller came on in relief and threw five strong innings, allowing three hits and a walk, striking out four and keeping the Dodgers in range.
Dodgers 201 000 0 - 3 7 3
Twins 000 200 0 - 2 7 0
Maverick Hoppman and Evan Caton. Dayne Tu, Maddox Muller (3) and AC Chilson.
LAUREL DODGERS — E.Caton 1-3, Pierce Caton 1-4, Jace Buchanan 3-4, Reece Dolechek 0-2, Landen Bauer 0-2, Hoppman 1-3, Ryne Clausen 0-2, Louis Nagy 1-2, Tanner Knaub 0-3.
GLACIER TWINS — Maddox Muller 1-4, Mikey Glass 0-3, Kellen Kroger 1-3, Tristan Butts 1-3, Jake McIntyre 2-2, Michael Miller 1-3, Talon Murphy 0-0, Sam Hall 0-3, Josiah Ruther 1-2, AC Chilson 0-3.
2B — Buchanan, Nagy. HR — Buchanan. RBIs — Buchanan, Dolechek, Hoppman, McIntyre, Miller.
Bandits 4, Dodgers 2
Down 2-0, the Belgrade Bandits scored twice in the fifth and sixth innings and claimed their first Montana/Alberta Class A Legion baseball championship.
The go-ahead run came on a bases-loaded squeeze bunt from Ryas Olson that scored Brayton VanDyken and broke a 2-2 tie. Keenan Kraft followed with a sacrifice fly.
Josh Arrants hit a two-run single for Belgrade (32-10) in the fifth.
Collin Delph threw a complete game four-hitter for the Bandits, with two walks and one strikeout.
Jace Buchanan had two hits for Laurel (56-10), and singled and scored in the fifth for a 2-0 Dodger lead.
State A Tournament
July 26-30, Laurel
Wednesday
Game 1: Glacier Twins 1, Butte Miners 0
Game 2: Belgrade Bandits 7, Mission Valley Mariners 3
Game 3: Billings Blue Jays 10, Havre Northstars 9
Game 4: Laurel Dodgers 9, Lethbridge Miners 6
Thursday
Game 5: Butte Miners 14, Havre Northstars 1. loser out
Game 6: Lethbridge Miners 8, Mission Valley Mariners 2, lo
Game 7: Billings Blue Jays 5, Glacier Twins 1
Game 8: Belgrade Bandits 3, Laurel Dodgers 2
Friday
Game 9: Glacier Twins 13, Lethbridge Miners 4, lo
Game 10: Laurel Dodgers 7, Butte Miners 5, lo
Game 11: Belgrade Bandits 10, Billings Blue Jays 4, semifinal
Saturday
Game 12: Laurel Dodgers 6, Billings Blue Jays 2, lo
Game 13: Glacier Twins 10, Belgrade Bandits 2
Sunday
Game 14: Laurel Dodgers 3, Glacier Twins 2
Game 15: Belgrade Bandits 4, Laurel Dodgers 2, championship