Elliott, Lakers AA shut down Bozeman, 4-2
Sam Elliott was brilliant on the mound, the offense did enough damage to drive in enough runs and the defense was near perfect in a 4-2 Class AA American Legion baseball victory for the Kalispell Lakers over the Bozeman Bucks on Thursday evening at Griffin Field.
Elliott went 8 2/3 innings. He allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked just two.
Johan Freudenberg finished up.
“Sam was an absolute bulldog,” Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said of his mound ace.
“He put pressure on the kids, was pounding the zone, mixing his pitches. He did a tremendous job against the No. 1 team in the state.”
Bozeman is now 13-5 in AA league play.
The Lakers are 10-6 heading into tonight’s second game with Bozeman at Griffin Field. Play starts at 5 p.m.
Elliott held Bozeman off the scoreboard until it scored twice in the top of the ninth.
Kalispell took a 2-0 lead after two innings and added a run in the fourth and eighth.
Hayden Schlepp, 2 for 4, drove in a run for Kalispell along with Dawson Smith, 1 for 3, and Keaden Morisaki, 1 for 3. Schlepp and Eric Seaman doubled.
“I think the kids already have confidence,” Malmin said of what the team will take from this victory.
“They had a great week of practice. This is the time we want to be playing our best baseball. Tonight was solid. We played pretty clean defensively and got the key hits when we needed them. I was proud of their effort and resiliency.”
The regular season ends for Kalispell with a doubleheader on Saturday in Butte.
State AA tournament action follows July 26-30 in Bozeman.
Bozeman AA 000 000 002 — 2 5 1
Kalispell AA 020 100 01x — 4 8 1
WP—Sam Elliott; LP—Alex Eckstrom.
BOZEMAN — Tyler Dobie 0-2, Payton Price 0-2, Bailey Paddock 0-4, Andy Purpura 1-3, Morgan Hostetter 1-3, Adam Hubley 0-4, Jack Buck 0-3, Jake Murfitt 0-2, Kehler Murfitt 1-2, Ryan Evenson 1-4, Mike Freund 1-3.
KALISPELL — Ryan Symmes 0-4, Eric Seaman 1-4, Patrick O’Connell 1-3, Torin Bowden 0-3, Hayden Schlepp 2-3, Dawson Smith 1-3, Jonas Nyman 1-3, Spencer Pisk 1-3, Keaden Morisaki 1-3.
2B—Purpura, Hostetter; Seaman, Schlepp; RBIs—K. Murfitt (2); Schlepp, Smith, Morisaki.