Mariners drop state opener to Laurel
The Daily Inter Lake
THREE FORKS - Laurel did all of its scoring in the bottom of the fifth inning en route to a 3-1 victory over Mission Valley on Thursday at the Class A American Legion state baseball tournament.
Clay Graber had an RBI single for the Dodgers and Sam Faust doubled in two more.
Mission Valley's lone run came in the top of the sixth.
Kyle Bagnell went the distance for Mission Valley, allowing just five hits, while striking out 10 and walking two. Bagnell has a team record 152 strikeouts in 100 innings this season.
Bagnell also holds the Mariners' record for most strikeouts in a game with 14.
"We saw a very good pitcher in Kyle Bagnell. He has had a great year and is solid on the mound. He kept us off-balance for a majority of the game," Laurel coach Matt Kimmet told the Billings Gazette.
"But we found a way. I was happy and knew it would be a pitcher's duel. Jordan Wilson threw a great game and Dillon Boeshans came in and did a heck of a job."
The Mariners collected seven hits in the contest, led by Tim Rausch's triple and Bagnell's double.
"We definitely missed a lot of opportunities," Mission Valley coach Jami Hanson said.
"A two-out error cost us a couple runs."
Mission Valley left runners at second twice, and stranded a total of five in scoring position.
"We just have to battle back," Hanson said.
"Hopefully our bats will get rolling here, and we can score some runs."
Mission Valley (37-26) drops into loser-out action today at 8 a.m. versus the Livingston Braves.
"One good thing about this is we can still win the state tournament with one loss," Hanson said. "That's kind of how we have to play things here."
Today's schedule
At Luzenac Field
Three Forks' 8 a.m. - Mission Valley vs. Livingston
11 a.m. - Billings vs. Gallatin Valley
2 p.m. - Laurel vs. Lethbridge
5:30 p.m. - Bitterroot vs. Tri-County
Thursday's Results
Laurel Dodgers 3, Mission Valley 1
Bitterroot Red Sox 4, Billings Cardinals 0
Lethbridge 11, Livingston 4
Tri-County 8, Gallatin Valley 3
Thursday's Sums' Mission Valley 000 001 000 - 1 7 1
Laurel 000 030 000 - 3 5 1
Kyle Bagnell and Tim Rausch; Jordan Wilson, Dillon Boeshans (7) and Sam Faust. W - Wilson. L - Bagnell.
MISSION VALLEY (37-26) - Justin Evertz 1-4, Tyler Linse 1-4, Rausch 1-4 (3B), Derrick Rathe 1-4, Bagnell 1-4 (2B), Kalleb Gillingham 1-4, Chris Alfiero 0-2, Matt Detwiler 0-2, Cory Hardy 0-3, Justin Evans 1-3.
LAUREL (48-11-1) - Joe Binstock 0-4, Brian Foltkoetter 1-4, Faust 2-4 (2B), Chris Mjelstad 0-4, John Dauenhauer 0-4, Dillon Doeshans 0-0, Keenan Weatherford 0-3, Taylor Roberts 1-2, Spencer Bakich 1-3, Wilson 0-1.
Bitterroot 4, Billings Cardinals 0
Billings 000 000 000 - 0 6 3
Bitterroot 101 020 00x - 4 4 0
Clay Compton, Colter Endy (8) and Nick Funwak. Andrew Shook, Jake Linquist (7) and Austin Allen.
BILLINGS (48-24) - Quinn Huppert 1-5, Shaun Reiter 0-5, Compton 0-5, Jens Rohrer 1-4, Nathan Smith 0-4, Funwak 0-4, John Mueller 1-4, Danny Robison 1-4, Tyler Girard 2-4.
BITTERROOT (52-11-1) - Shook 1-4, Rodee Anderson 3-4 (2B, 3B), Matthew Hamilton 0-4, Allen 0-4, Wes Sherman 0-4, Beau Norberg 0-3, Mike Stanford 0-2, Tyler Tintzman 0-2, Linquist 0-0, Ryan Weigle 0-2.