Cubs victorious in opener

By Sean Eamon of the Standard Staff - 07/26/2008

Butte Muckers catcher D.J. Lewis tags Helena’s Bob Doughty at the plate during Butte’s 8-6 loss against the Reps at the Southern A Districts baseball tournament in Dillon Friday. Sean Eamon Montana Standard

DILLON — Defending district champion Dillon moved on Friday in the opening round of the Southern A District American Legion Baseball tournament at Vigilante Park.

The Butte Muckers, Anaconda A’s and Deer Lodge Wranglers will have to make it to the state tournament the hard way.

Gallatin Valley Outlaw pitcher Isaiah Jensen opened the tournament throwing a two-hitter against Anaconda in an 11-1 seven inning victory.

After that, Deer Lodge was upset by Bozeman 12-6.

The Helena Reps held off the Butte Muckers 8-6, and Dillon beat Livingston 7-4.

The top two teams in the double-elimination tournament move on to the Class A state tournament.

Dillon 7, Livingston 4

Zach McRae pitched the distance and Tim Goins hit an historic home run as the Cubs held off the hot-hitting Braves.

Livingston pounded 12 hits off McRae, including six extra-base hits, but the hard-throwing Dillon righty limited the damage. He needed 124 pitches to go the distance, striking out nine and walking none.

McRae also put the Cubs up for good in the first inning. He hit a double to the gap in right-center field that easily scored leadoff hitter Dakota Norris, who singled, for the 1-0 lead.

The Cubs added runs in the second and third to make it 3-0.

After Livingston rallied to cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, Goins extended the lead to 5-2 with a no-doubter home run to center field to score McRae, who walked.

The blast was Goins 18th of the season. That tied the unofficial state Legion record, even though Goins missed about half the season with a broken right hand.

The Cubs added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh. Kacy Schwend walked and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth, while Goins hustled to turn a blooper into a double in the seventh. He took third on the play when the Braves left the bag open, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Schwend.

Livingston battled back for one in the eight and one in the ninth.

Riley Kurshner doubled and scored on an infield single by Jason Rogers in the eighth. No. 9 hitter Cavin Segil hit a two-out home run in the ninth.

Livingston outhit the Cubs 12-5,

See CUBS, Page B5

but Dillon took advantage of four walks. Two Dillon batters were hit by pitches.

— Bill Foley,

The Montana Standard

Livingston 000 200 011 — 4 12 0

Dillon 111 021 10x — 7 5 0

Zach McRae and Jackson Berkram; Chad Becker, Dallas Nelson (6) and Trent Birge. W — McRae (9-3). L — Becker.

LIVINGSTON — Ron Kurschner 1-5, Riley Kurschner 2-3, Sam Bisson 2-4, Becker 0-4, Jason Rogers 2-4, Birge 2-4, Anthony Piluso 0-4, Matt Smith 1-2, Nelson 1-2, Calvin Segil 1-4.

DILLON (43-25) — Dakota Norris 1-3, Conor Hartz 0-4, McRae 1-2, Tim Goins 2-4, Berkram 1-4, Kacy Schwend 0-2, Jake Schmit 0-2, Robert Walsh 0-2, Donnie Moore 0-1, Andy Peterson 0-2.

HR — Segil; Goins. 3B — Smith. 2B — Ri. Kushner, Bisson, Rogers, Nelson; McRae, Goins. RBIs — Rogers, Birge, Smith, Segil; Goins 2, McRae, Berkram, Schwend.

Helena 8, Butte 6

Mucker heroics fell just short.

With the tying run on base, Jake Novack hit a deep fly ball to center field.

The ball, however, hung up and fell harmlessly into the glove of Helena center field Cole Andriolo for the final out of the game.

“If Novack would have hit that last one a little farther,” Butte coach Jim LeProwse said. “If he would have gotten a little bit more of it.”

The Mucekrs trailed 8-5 heanding into the ninth.

Matt Berg hit a one-out single. With two out, D.J. Lewis singled. He was followed by an RBI single by Bolton to set up Novack’s near miss.

The Reps never trailed. They built a 4-0 lead with two runs in the first and two in the third.

Butte battled back and trailed 5-4 after Marcus Andreas ripped a two-run home-run to center field in the bottom of the sixth.

It was Butte’s second home run. Justin Dunbar hit an identical shot to lead off the fourth.

The Reps added three runs in the eighth, though, when Butte starter Joe Newman tired.

Newman threw 118 pitches through the first seven innings. He threw 14 more before giving way to Dunbar.

Colter Sternhagen, Jake Harris and Bob Doughty hit back-to-back-to-back RBI singles in the eighth. The last two came of Dunbar, but all three runs were charged to Newman, who pitched the longest outing of his career.

Hunter Day pitched eight strong innings to lead Helena to the win. Doughty pitched the ninth for the save.

Bolton went 3-for-5 for Butte, while Andreas joined Alex Briggs with two hits. Todd Cabrera added a double after a rough start as the leadoff hitter.

— Bill Foley,

The Montana Standard

Helena 202 001 030 — 8 15 2

Butte 000 202 011 — 6 11 2

Hunter Day, Bob Doughty (9) and Matt Kline; Joe Newman, Justin Dunbar (8) and D.J. Lewis. W — Day. L — Newman. S — Doughty.

HELENA — Brad Rook 0-5, Zach Hanson 1-4, Colter Sternhagen 3-5, Jake Harris 2-4, Doughty 3-3, Pat Morgtan 1-4, Jerry Clairmont 0-1, Kyle McLean 2-5, Cline 0-5, Cole Andriolo 3-5.

BUTTE — Todd Cabrera 1-5, Blake Cholhepp 0-3, Dunbar 1-4, Matt Berg 1-5, Cody McDougal 0-4, Lewis 1-4, Zack Bolton 3-5, Marcus Andreas 2-3, Jake Novacki 0-2, Alex Briggs 2-4.

HR — Dunbar, Andreas. 2B — Cabrera, Doughty. RBIs — Sternhagen 2, Harris 2, Doughty 2, McLean 2; Andreas 3, Cabrera, Dunbar.

GVO 11, Anaconda 1 (7)

The A’s were down 2-0 after two innings and then the Outlaws went for the jailbreak putting up eight runs in the third.

Anaconda responded with a run in the top of the fourth, but it was all the Smelter City nine could muster in seven innings.

Gallatin Valley had a two-hitter by Jensen, who also had a home run and a double to total three RBIs. He was named the MVP of the game.

Gallatin Valley also had a double by Derek Allen and two by Lynn Crawford. Conner Moore finished with two hits for 2 RBIs.

The A’s had hits by Clark Hensley and Anthony Marrujo. Jake Lielde batted in the team’s lone run.

Anaconda replaced pitcher Cory Orrino in the third inning, so he could return against Deer Lodge today. In relief, Eddie Young held GVO scoreless for three innings, before giving up the game-ending run.

— Sean Eamon,

The Montana Standard

Anaconda 000 100 0 — 1 2 5

GVO 118 000 1 — 11 10 1

Cory Orrino (3), Eddie Young and Anthony Marrujo. Isaiah Jensen and Matt Enriquez. W — Jensen. L — Orrino.

ANACONDA (11-28) — Ron Ward 0-3, Clark Hensley 1-2, Cory Orrino 0-3, Anthony Marrujo 1-3, Spencer Johnson 0-3, Jake Liedle 0-3, Young 0-3, Mike Van Meel 0-2, Brandno Littlefield 0-1, Joe Burgman 0-1.

GALLATIN VALLEY OUTLAWS (33-20) — Lynn Crawford 2-4, Isaiah Jensen 2-4, Derek Allen 1-4, Matt Workman 1-4, Calvin Stocker 0-2, Matt Enriquez 0-3, Colton Anderson 1-4, Conner Moore 2-4, Chris Boyce 0-3, Evan Larrabasker 1-3.

2B — Jensen, Allen, Crawford 2. HR — Jensen. RBIs — Liedle; Allen, Workman, Boyce, Larrabasker, Crawford 2, Jensen 2, Moore 2.

Bozeman 12, Deer Lodge 6

The Wranglers didn’t really wake up until the seventh inning when the squad scored four runs.

Deer Lodge suffered from two dropped fly balls in the second inning that resulted in four runs.

Bozeman added five runs in the sixth with back-to-back doubles by Ethan Wilkes and Mario Stanislao. Wilkes went 3-for-5 for three RBIs to lead the Spikes’ effort.

Bozeman also had three hits by catcher Josh Mackay and two by Keith Ailes. Ailes and Doug Crossman knocked in two runs each.

Deer Lodge had three hits by starting pitcher Blake Niederklein and two hits by both Dean Despain and Paul Vasquez. Despain helped bring in two runs.

The Wranglers took four free bases on closer Brock Paddock in the seventh, but ultimately fell by striking out for all three outs.

Bozeman pitcher Doug Crossman earned MVP as he struck out 10 Wranglers.

— Sean Eamon,

The Montana Standard

Deer Lodge 100 010 004 — 6 11 5

Bozeman 040 005 12x — 12 11 3

Blake Niederklein (6), Andrew Stefalo and Joe Stefalo. Doug Crossman (8), Brock Paddock and Evan Minkoff. W — Crossman. L — Niederklein.

DEER LODGE (20-28) — Paul Vasquez 2-4, Andrew Stefalo 0-4, Blake Niederklein 3-5, Dean Despain 2-5, Joe Stefalo 1-5, Jordan Jennings 1-4, Drew Doiron 0-5, Ed Korang 0-3, Roy Stidham 0-0, Will Anderson 1-3.

BOZEMAN (24-24) — Ethan Wilkes 3-5, Mario Stanislao 1-5, Tervor Shellenberg 0-3, Doug Crossman 1-4, Dillo nPeterson 0-5, Keith Ailes 2-4, Josh Mackay 3-4, Sam Olson 0-4, Brock Paddock 0-1, Evan Minkoff 1-2.

2B — Niederklein, Anderson, Despain 2; Stanislao, Minkoff, Wilkes 2. RBIs — Niederklein, Joe Stefalo, Despain 2; Stanislao, Mackay, Minkof, Crossman 2, Ailes 2, Wilkes 3.