After earning a come-from-behind 11-4 victory Saturday night over the Lethbridge Spitz Elks at Lindborg-Cregg Field, the Mavs ensured themselves of a second seed at the State AA American Legion tournament beginning Aug. 2 in Great Falls.
Missoula (17-6 in league play, 47-21 overall) was eliminated from defending its conference title after the Great Falls Stallions defeated the Great Falls Electrics 15-5 earlier in the afternoon. That guaranteed the Stallions just their second league crown in the 15-year history of their program.
Things didn't start out so rosy for the Mavericks and starting pitcher Brendan Brown. Lethbridge went ahead 4-0 in the top of the second, paced by an RBI double by catcher Braedon Horon and a two-out, run-scoring single by right fielder Brock Fulkerth.
But the Mavs did a little two-out damage of their own in the bottom of the frame when Kendal Maier's double to the center field wall was followed by a Taylor King homer to left-center, cutting Missoula's deficit in half. King led the Mavericks' eight-hit attack, finishing 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
“We're down four with two outs and Kendal hits the ball off the wall, then Taylor follows with a dinger,” Hathaway said. “That got us within two and got our momentum going. That was a real key point in the game for us.”
Maier's run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly by King made it 5-4 Missoula in the sixth before Drew Lytle scampered home on a wild pitch to put the Mavs up by two.
The Mavs scored five more in the seventh on just two hits, but were aided by three Lethbridge errors in the frame.
Though he struggled at times, Brown faced just two batters over the minimum between the third and eighth innings in a bulldogged effort on the mound. But Brown tired in the ninth and Lytle came on to get the final two outs to preserve the win. Brown allowed eight hits and two walks while striking out a pair.
“Brown really battled for us,” Hathaway said. “We tried to get him that complete game, but his pitch count got to a place where there was no point in keeping him in.”
Spencer Farrell and Kylle Rokosh each went 2-for-4, while Horon finished 2-for-3 to lead Lethbridge at the plate.
Rokosh took the loss on the mound, throwing 6 2-3 innings and surrendering seven hits to go with four walks and eight strike outs.
When the same teams meet Sunday at noon in the final home game of the season for the Mavs, Hathaway hopes to continue to iron out wrinkles in preparation for the state tournament.
“We're going to come out and play and treat it the same way we treated today's game,” he said. “Honestly, we're not where we need to be heading into that state tournament. These guys need to be getting their reps in and treat it like we need this game.”
Lethbridge 040 000 000 - 4 8 5
Missoula 021 003 50x - 11 8 1
Kylle Rokosh, Kim Barthel (7) and Braedon Horon. Brendan Brown, Drew Lytle (9) and Sean Dwyer, Andy Freeman (6). W - Brown. L - Rokosh.
LETHBRIDGE - Brock Fulkerth 1-4, Mark Clauson 1-4, Mitch Maxwell 0-4, Spencer Farrell 2-4, Rokosh 2-4, Tanner Granberg 0-4, Horon 2-3, Jamin Heller 0-0, Tyson Hudson 0-2, Sheldon Haughian 0-1, Chad Northcott 0-4.
MISSOULA - Matt McMann 1-5, Ben Roberts 1-4, Brown 1-4, Dwyer 0-2, Freeman 0-2, Lytle 1-4, Kendal Maier 2-4, Taylor King 2-3, Taylor Nordby 0-3, Cubby Pierre 0-3.
2B - Rokosh, Horon, Maier. HR - King. RBIs - Fulkerth, Granberg, Horon, Brown, Lytle, Maier, King 3.
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