Thursday evening, the Mavs won their opener of the Scott Klaudt Memorial American Legion baseball tournament by hanging a tidy 8-2 defeat on the Prairie Cardinals of Post Falls, Idaho, at Lindborg-Cregg Field.
In the day’s earlier action, the Lewiston, Idaho Twins beat the Twin City, Wash., Titans 8-6, the Cardinals downed the Spokane, Wash., Bandits 15-7 and the Billings Royals defeated Spokane 9-7.
“The ball was flying out all day today because there was a wind current blowing everything out to left,” said Mavericks manager Brent Hathaway, who saw his team run its winning steak to 12 games and improve to 26-9. “But right before Taylor hit his out, I looked at the flags in centerfield and it was dead still. So, his (King’s home run) was very legit.”
A 3-1 lead was all that Mavs starting pitcher Conor Dwyer needed on a night when his best stuff eluded him. He battled through the first, where the Cardinals got consecutive singles by Brandon Haas, Kelly Hall and Cruz Burner to take a 1-0 lead.
But Missoula took advantage of a two-out error by Cardinals shortstop Nate Douglas in the bottom half, when right fielder Chris Bartenhagen followed with a run-scoring single to knot it.
Dwyer kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard through the sixth to get the win and boost his mark to 6-2. Dwyer allowed a total of four hits to go with eight strikeouts and two walks.
But Hathaway felt it took his left-handed starter several frames to get comfortable on the mound.
“He (Dwyer) got his motor running a little bit too fast and when he does that he tends to overthrow a bit and the ball elevates in the strike zone,” Hathaway said. “I don’t think he finally calmed down until about the fourth or fifth. He’s just got enough giddyup on his fastball to get by.”
The Mavs clung to their two-run lead until the bottom of the sixth, when a two-out rally resulted in four more runs as they sent 10 to the plate. Bartenhagen smacked a two-run double to highlight the rally.
Travis Johnsen, the Missoula closer, got in a jam after replacing Dwyer to start the seventh. After beginning the frame by surrendering two walks and two singles, the second by Scott Carr which plated the Cardinals’ second run, Johnsen settled down. He induced a fly out to right and picked off Ryan Burnette on third base before getting Haas to pop up to second to end it.
Center fielder Dan Belet went 2-for-4 with a double as did first baseman Cody Burgmeier in the Mavs’ 11-hit effort. King, Dwyer and Bartenhagen helped Missoula produce five hitters with multi-hit outings.
The quality win kept the good vibrations flowing around the Mavericks’ clubhouse after the game.
“These guys have kind of come full circle,” Hathaway said. “The past two years, these guys have taken their lumps and kind of struggled. Now they’re starting to see the rewards, and they’ve always worked hard and now were starting to see that pay off.”
In the tourney opener, Lewiston beat Twin City in a matchup of teams who have played in the American Legion World Series championship game within the last five years.
After Spokane scored seven times in the first inning of the second game, the Cardinals charged back to take the 15-7 win.
In the 4 p.m. contest, Tony Lagaly’s two-run homer began a four-run rally in the fifth that lifted the Royals over Spokane.
Four more games are on tap for Friday with the Mavs set to play Spokane at 7 p.m.
Prairie 100 000 1 - 2 6 2
Missoula 130 004 x - 8 11 0
Brandon Haas and Kelly Hall. Conor Dwyer, Travis Johnsen (7) and Sean Dwyer. W - C. Dwyer (6-2). L - Haas.
PRAIRIE - Scott Carr 1-4, Nate Douglas 0-4, Haas 1-3, Hall 1-3, Cruz Bruner 2-3, Zack Aker 0-2, Cam Garcia 0-2, Will Marks 0-2, Rytan Burnette 1-1, Brandon Brubaker 0-2.
MISSOULA - Taylor King 2-4, Dan Belet 2-4, C. Dwyer 2-3, Mac Cuffe 0-4, Chris Bartenhagen 2-4, Taylor Nordby 0-0, S. Dwyer 0-3, Cody Burgmeier 2-4, Brendan Brown 0-0, Johnsen 0-2, Max Smith 1-2.
2B - Belet, Bartenhagen, Burgmeier. HR - King (6). RBIs - Carr, Bruner, King 4, Bartenhagen 3.
Scott Klaudt Memorial tournament at Lindborg-Cregg Field
Thursday
Lewiston, Idaho, Twins 8, Twin City, Wash., Titans 6
Post Falls, Idaho Cardinals 15, Spokane, Wash., Bandits
Billings Royals 9, Spokane Bandits 7
Missoula Mavericks 8, Post Falls Cardinals 2
Friday
10 a.m. - Lewiston Twins vs. Billings Royals
1 p.m. - Billings Royals vs. Twin City Titans
4 p.m. - Post Falls Cardinals vs. Twin City Titans
7 p.m. - Missoula Mavericks vs. Spokane Bandits
Saturday
10 a.m. - Post Falls Cardinals vs. Billings Royals
1 p.m. - Spokane Bandits vs. Lewiston Twins
4 p.m. - Missoula Mavericks vs. Lewiston Twins
7 p.m. - Missoula Mavericks vs. Twin City Titans
Sunday
10 a.m. - Spokane Bandits vs. Twin City Titans
1 p.m. - Post Falls Cardinals vs. Lewiston Twins
4 p.m. - Missoula Mavericks vs. Billings Royals
7 p.m. - Championship
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