After defeating the Billings Royals 7-4 Sunday afternoon at Lindborg-Cregg Field, the Class AA Missoula Mavericks came just short of winning their first Scott Klaudt Memorial American Legion baseball tournament since 2000, falling 5-3 to the Lewis-Clark Twins of Lewiston, Idaho, in the championship.
The Twins completed a perfect 6-0 run through the six-team tournament, which included a 16-4 drubbing of the Mavs on Saturday. But with an already extended pitching staff, Missoula fought admirably and limited Lewis-Clark (14-5) to just five runs and seven hits. The Twins entered the title contest averaging 10.4 runs per tourney game.
The final day of the four-day tournament began with the Spokane Bandits downing Bellevue, Wash., Honda 14-5, before the Twins defeated the Prairie Cardinals from Post Falls, Idaho, 10-2.
Missoula center fielder Ben Roberts, who earned the Klaudt's offensive MVP, was a force against Billings, racking up three triples in going 4-for-4 with two RBIs and a stolen base. In the tournament, Roberts hit an even .500 - despite going hitless in two games - and totalling six triples.
After shortstop Taylor King led off the game with a double, Roberts smacked his first three-bagger to stake Missoula's No. 1 starting pitcher Cody Burgmeier to an early 1-0 lead.
Burgmeier moved to a team-best 8-1 by tossing a solid complete game. He scattered nine hits and a pair of walks, striking out six.
A King RBI single in the third preceded second baseman Kendal Maier's third home run of the season, a solo shot that put the Mavs up 3-0.
Missoula catcher Sean Dwyer ripped an RBI double in the fifth. Roberts' run-scoring triple in the seventh was followed by RBI singles by Taylor Nordby and Drew Lytle as the Mavs scored three in the final frame.
The Royals put up an unearned run in the fourth before Matt Edwards singled in a run in the fifth to cut the Mavs' lead to 4-2. They scored twice in the seventh before Burgmeier slammed the door by fanning Ryan Gratwohl for the third time for the final out.
King, Maier and third baseman Cubby Pierre each finished 2-for-4 and each Maverick hit safely as Missoula piled up 16 hits against Billings starter Devon Hedin.
The Mavs used three lefties against the Twins, beginning with starter Jake Schilling (3-3), who allowed a pair of runs in the first and another in the second, giving Lewis-Clark a 3-0 lead.
Lincoln Mansch relieved Schilling and surrendered a run on two hits between the third and fourth innings. The Twins, behind starting pitcher Brett Watson, went up 4-1, yielding only a run-scoring ground out by Roberts in the third.
But Missoula battled back in the sixth when Burgmeier, the designated hitter, drove in two with a one-out single, cutting Lewis-Clark's advantage to 4-3. Drew Lytle followed with a single, putting pinch-runner Sam Sopko at second with the tying run. But Watson, the tourney's defensive MVP, rung up Andy Freeman on strikes in a 12-pitch at-bat before fanning Pierre to end the threat.
Tom Kerr earned the save for the Twins, allowing only a walk in the seventh.
Nordby smacked a sixth-inning double as was the lone Maverick with a multi-hit game with a 2-for-3 effort.
“I don't want the guys to think we're satisfied with getting second place,” Hathaway said. “The bottom line is, we're not going to beat a team like this by giving them extra outs.”
The Mavs will look to get back in the win column when they host the Glacier Twins in a doubleheader at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Missoula 102 010 3 - 7 16 1
Billings 000 110 2 - 4 9 0
Cody Burgmeier and Sean Dwyer. Devon Hedin and Ryan Gratwohl. W - Burgmeier (8-1). L - Hedin.
MISSOULA - Taylor King 2-4, Kendal Maier 2-4, Ben Roberts 4-4, Dwyer 1-3, Taylor Nordby 2-4, Burgmeier 1-4, Drew Lytle 1-4, Sam Sopko 1-4, Cubby Pierre 2-4.
BILLINGS - Matt Edwards 2-4, Thomas Ackerman 0-4, Dillon Ness 1-3, Mo Burrough 1-3, Blake Loran 2-3, Jeremy Bailey 0-0, Adam Ketterling 1-3, Gratwohl 0-4, Taylor Boyer 1-3, Jeremy Schmaing 1-3.
2B - King, Dwyer, Pierre. 3B - Roberts 3, Schmaing. HR - Maier (3). RBIs - King, Maier, Roberts 2, Dwyer, Nordby, Lytle, Edwards, BUrrough, Ketterling.
Missoula 001 002 0 - 3 6 0
Lewiston 211 001 x - 5 7 0
Jake Schilling, Matt McMann (3), Lincoln Mansch (5) and Andy Freeman. Brett Watson, Tom Kerr (7) and Tim Kerr. W - Watson. L - Schilling (3-3). S - To. Kerr.
MISSOULA - King 0-2, Maier 0-1, Roberts 0-4, Dwyer 1-4, Nordby 2-3, Burgmeier 1-3, Sopko 0-0, Lytle 1-3, Freeman 1-2, Pierre 0-3.
LEWISTON - Taylor Forge 1-4, Adam Carson 0-3, Don Perconti 1-3, To. Kerr 1-2, Matt Blankenship 1-2, Ti. Kerr 1-3, Deren Jones 0-2, Tyler Gillie 1-2, Dusty Kearns 1-3.
2B - Nordby, Forge, Blankenship, Gillie. RBIs - Roberts, Burgmeier 2, Forge, Perconti, Blankenship, Gillie.
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