Twins, Mariners pick up State A wins
POLSON — Kellen Kroger threw a four-hitter and Nolan Amerman drove in two big runs for the Glacier Twins in their 4-2 win over the Lethbridge Miners at the State A Legion tournament Wednesday.
The Twins, 29-11, joined the host Mission Valley Mariners in the winners’ bracket at O’Malley Park.
The Mariners beat the Vauxhall Spurs 11-1 in Wednesday’s final game, getting a combined two-hitter from Dawson DuMont and Wyatt Wadsworth.
The Mariners (26-19) will play Gallatin Valley Thursday at 5 p.m.; the Outlaws got a huge game from Brody Ayers in a 5-0 win over the Billings Cardinals.
The Twins take on the Belgrade Bandits at 2 p.m., after the Bandits beat the Miles City Mavericks 6-3.
Twins 4, Miners 2
Kroger allowed four hits, two walks and hit two batters in seven innings. He allowed one earned run and struck out six.
Glacier jumped ahead 2-0 thanks to two walks, a hit batter and an error on Maddox Miller’s bases-loaded grounder. The Twins then went up 3-1 on Amerman’s RBI groundout — Dawson Juntunen, who’d been hit by a pitch earlier, scored — in the fifth inning and 4-2 on his RBI single in the sixth.
The Miners got an RBI single from Carter Mann in the third inning and scored on a wild pitch in the fifth. Lethbridge pitcher Carter Bevans gave up seven walks and hit three batters in six innings, but allowed just two hits and two earned runs. He fanned two.
Twins 200 011 0 - 4 2 1
Miners 001 010 0 - 2 4 2
Kellen Kroger and Dawson Juntunen. Carter Bevans, Brett Smith (7) and Grady Johnson.
GLACIER TWINS — Stevyn Andrachick 0-1, Kroger 0-4, Nolan Amerman 1-3, Jake McIntyre 0-2, Maddox Muller 0-3, Michael Miller 0-4, Matthew Mitts 1-3, Trent Derosa 0-2, Juntunen 0-2.
LETHBRIDGE MINERS — Lowen Kitagawa 0-3, Kylar Loman 1-3, Carter Mann 1-4, B Hope 0-3, Noah Gruninger 0-3, Dylan Carpenter 0-1, Dylan Wojtowicz 0-3, Ethan Honess 0-2, Johnson 2-3.
RBIs — Amerman 2, Mann.
Mariners 11, Spurs 1
Dawson DuMont pitched five innings, giving up both Vauxhall hits and four walks, with nine strikeouts. He also hit a solo home run in the first inning.
The lead grew to 6-0 in the third, with Hunter Emerson’s two-run double and Adein Gfroerer’s two-RBI single being the key hits.
The Mariners put up another crooked number in the sixth, with Landon Shoemake driving in a run with one double and Cole Haggard pushing across two with another.
Mariners 105 004 1 - 11 13 1
Spurs 000 010 0 - 1 2 1
Dawson DuMont, Wyatt Wadsworth (6) and Hunter Emerson. Brian Fehr, Daxton Schrader (5), Cayden Fehr (7) and Landon Howg.
MISSION VALLEY MARINERS — Cole Wadsworth 2-5, Landon Shoemake 2-4, D.DuMont 1-2, Cole Haggard 2-5, Emerson 2-4, B DuMont 0-3, W. Wadsworth 2-4, Cymian Kauley 1-4, Aiden Gfroerer 1-3.
VAUXHALL SPURS — Langdyn Cummins 0-2, Parker Mclaughlin 0-2, Eric Reiling 1-3, Howg 0-3, Roman Pavka 0-2, Aidan Maxweill 0-2, Landen Gustafson 0-3, Tanner Bullock 0-3, Mark Vulcano 1-2, Taitsen Wood 0-1.
2B — Haggard, Shoemake, W.Wadsworth. HR — D.Dumont. RBIs — Haggard 2, B.Dumont 2, W.Wadsworth 2, A.Groerer 2, Shoemake, D.DuMont.
Bandits 6, Mavericks 3
Belgrade’s Sawyer Olson had three hits, including a two-run single that ate up a 3-1 deficit in the third inning for the Bandits.
Cade Thomas followed with a double and Ryas Olson an RBI single as Belgrade took the lead for good.
In the fifth Chance Stephens was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Gage Banks followed with a sacrifice fly for a 6-3 Bandit lead.
Brayton VanDyke nearly went the distance on the mound, giving away to Keenan Kraft with two outs in the seventh. VanDyke allowed eight hits and three earned runs, striking out five.
Zach Phipps and Ian Zook each doubled and drove in a run for the Mavericks, and Anthony Moorehead and Rylin Genrry each had two hits. Bridger Muri also drove in a run.
Outlaws 5, Cardinals 0
Gallatin Valley’s Brody Ayers fired a three-hit shutout and homered to hand the Billings Cardinals just their 12th loss this season.
Ayers didn’t walk a batter in seven innings and fanned 11, throwing 89 pitches. In the third inning he helped his own cause with a two-run home run to left.
That would be all the runs he’d need, but the Outlaws still used a walk, two Billings errors and Aaron DeFrance’s RBI single to add three runs in the sixth inning.
Cyrus Tebay had two hits for Gallatin Valley.
Gavin Schwend hit a double for the Cardinals. Owen Schneider went five innings on the hill, allowing five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.
State A
July 31-Aug. 4, Polson
Wednesday’s Games
Belgrade Bandits 6, Miles City Mavericks 3
Gallatin Valley Outlaws 5, Billings Cardinals 0
Glacier Twins 4, Lethbridge Miners 2
Mission Valley Mariners 11, Vauxhall Spurs 1
Thursday
Game 5: Miles City (24-30) vs. Lethbridge (36-18), 9 a.m.
Game 6: Billings Cardinals (56-12) vs. Vauxhall (29-10), 11:30
Game 7: Glacier (29-11) vs. Belgrade (25-13), 2 p.m.
Game 8: Gallatin Valley (41-22) vs. Mission VAley (26-19), 5 p.m.
Friday
Game 9: Winner 6 vs. Loser 7, 11:30 a.m.
Game 10: Winner 5 vs. Winner 8, 2 p.m.
Game 11: Winner 7 vs. Winner 6, 5 p.m.
Saturday
Game 12: Winner 9/10 vs. Loser 11, 1 p.m.*
Game 13: Winner 9/10 vs. Winner 11, 4 p.m.*
(*-Avoiding rematch of earlier tournament game)
Sunday:
Game 14: Championship, 11 a.m.
Game 15: If necessary, 45 minutes after first game ends