Spurs blank Twins
WHITEFISH - The Glacier Twins had enough offense Tuesday night to overcome their shaky defense. Their gloves improved Wednesday, but their bats were too quiet for it to matter.
The Twins managed just two hits in an 8-0 loss to the Vauxhall Spurs on the second night of the 24th Annual Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Baseball Tournament at Memorial Park.
The game was called after six innings due to the tournament's eight-run mercy rule.
Glacier, which made six errors in Tuesday night's 16-10 victory over the Black Hills Lobos, moves to 2-1 in American Division pool play. The Spurs (3-0) of Vauxhall, Alberta, are the division's last unbeaten team.
Coltan LaBoucane pitched the distance for Vauxhall, keeping the Twins hitless until Dustin VonFeldt singled with two outs in the fourth inning. Zane Ridings' sixth-inning single was Glacier's final knock.
LaBoucane struck out four batters, walked one and hit another with a pitch. The Spurs made two late errors, but their otherwise solid defense allowed LaBoucane to pitch to contact.
"Their pitcher really wasn't doing anything special," Twins coach Ryan Hadfield said. "He was only throwing his fastball for strikes, and I was really surprised we didn't get on him … more later in the game after we saw it.
"He was a two-pitch guy, and his curveball wasn't very good. We didn't make a single adjustment from our first at-bats."
The Spurs played small ball to take a 1-0 first-inning lead. Ryan Hutchison led off with a single, advanced to second on Ty Odland's sacrifice bunt, moved to third on Zach Rhodes' base hit, and scored on Brendan Miller's sacrifice fly to right field.
Vauxhall successfully executed three sacrifice bunts. Each of their eight hits were singles, including one via bunt.
"We saw them bunt a little earlier in the tournament," Hadfield said. "They definitely bunted more this game.
"We did get that leading runner at third early in the game … but they were able to lay down a couple well-placed bunts to just do the little things."
Twins starter Ridings tallied four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings. He nearly escaped a second-inning jam with just one run scoring, but a two-out Glacier throwing error allowed two runs to score for a 4-0 deficit.
The second-inning damage could have been worse, but Twins center fielder Scott Yogodzinski made a diving catch to rob Miller and end the frame with two aboard.
Glacier committed two errors, both of which came in the second inning.
"The defense got better after the second inning," Hadfield said. "Wayde Martinson's probably back at 70 percent right now, so that's gonna help us a little bit to try some different infield combinations.
"He's been out for three weeks."
Ridings cruised through the third, fourth and fifth innings before Vauxhall opened the floodgates with two straight two-run singles with two outs in the sixth. Miller led the Spurs with three RBIs, while Rhodes went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
The Twins resume tournament action today with an 8 p.m. contest against the Calgary Blues. The Blues are 0-2 in the tournament, with both losses coming to the Spurs, who are off today.
"We've got a good pitcher ready to throw: Scott Yogodzinski," Hadfield said. "We'll be looking to get four or five innings from him.
"We don't want to overthrow him because we are looking at conference, but hopefully he can keep his pitch count down and give us four or five (innings); six would be a bonus."
Vauxhall 130 004 - 8 8 2
Glacier 000 000 - 0 2 2
Coltan LaBoucane and Ryan Colby. Zane Ridings, Brad Nielsen (6) and Bridger Beach. W - LaBoucane. L - Ridings.
VAUXHALL - Ryan Hutchison 1-2, Ty Odland 0-3, Zach Rhodes 2-3, Brendan Miller 1-3, Mike Brown 0-4, Clay Turcato 1-3, Brock Leavins 2-3, Mitch Schaafsma 0-2, Colby 1-1.
GLACIER - Scott Palmer 0-3, Ridings 1-3, Scott Yogodzinski 0-2, Beach 0-2, Dustin VonFeldt 1-3, Ryan Caron 0-1, Wayde Martinson 0-2, Nielsen 0-2, Kyle Yogodzinski 0-2, Adam Pisk 0-2.
RBIs - Miller 3, Rhodes 2, Colby. SB - Beach 2, Nielsen. SAC - Hutchison, Odland, Miller, Colby.