Lakers lap Loggers 14-4 in Legion play

The Kalispell Lakers AA rolled up 12 hits in a 14-4 drubbing of the Libby Loggers A on Thursday at Griffin Field.

The Lakers scored in all but one inning in a dominant offensive performance.

Kalispell started early, reaching its first two batters on singles in a three-run first inning, then scored three more runs in the second.

“With the exception of one inning our pitchers did a good job of throwing strikes and making them put the ball in play,” Lakers AA manager Ryan Malmin said.

Libby found its rhythm at the plate in the top of the third inning, Tim Carvey kicking off the frame with a first pitch single to center. Brady Bateman knocked in Carvey with a hard-hit single two batters later. Braydan Thom and Chris Auge singled in runs later in the inning to cut the Kalispell lead to 6-3.

The Lakers answered quickly though, as Patrick O’Connell ripped a two-run triple in the bottom of the inning and scored one batter later to replace his team’s six-run cushion.

Kalispell scored two more runs in the fourth inning and another in the fifth after a double from Sam Elliott.

Libby got a run back in the seventh when Bateman knocked in Carvey for the second time in the game, but Kalispell reached all five batters that came to the plate in the bottom of the inning, with Ryan Symmes knocking in a pinch-hit single to center field to end the game on the 10-run rule.

“We came out pretty slow,” Loggers manager Kelly Morford said. “I think once we settled in after the first couple of innings, I thought we played OK. It was too late.

“We ended up having some good swings on the ball, we just made too many miscues defensively and give (the Lakers) extra chances, they hit the ball so well, they’re going to take advantage of it.”

Randy Stultz was 3 for 4 from the plate with a pair of RBIs for the Lakers and O’Connell finished with three RBIs. Bateman was 2 for 4 with a pair of RBIs to lead Libby.

“It was a little bit of a concern that we left 10 guys on base,” Malmin said. “Today we played much cleaner (defensively), which was nice to see.”

Libby 003 000 1 — 4 6 6

Lakers AA 333 210 2 — 14 12 1

Tim Carvey, Shayne Walker (4), Seth Bateman (6), Moxley Roesler-Bagalke (7) and Brady Bateman. Brady Peiffer, Jonas Nyman (4), Patrick O’Connell (7) and Keaden Morisaki. W—Peiffer. L—Carvey.

LIBBY — Carvey 1-3, S. Bateman 1-3, B. Bateman 2-4, Walker 0-3, Braydan Thom 1-2, Roesler-Bagalke 0-2, Chris Auge 1-2, Cole Murphy 0-2, Colton Clemons 0-2, Joe Reynolds 0-1.

KALISPELL AA — Randy Stultz 3-4, Drew Scherrer 0-0, Hayden Schlepp 1-1, O’Connell 1-4, Johan Freudenberg 0-1, Nyman 0-2, Spencer Pisk 1-3, Sam Elliott 2-4, Morisaki 1-2, Peiffer 1-2, Eric Seaman 1-1, Ryan Symmes 1-1.

2B—Elliott. 3B—O’Connell, Seaman. RBIs—B. Bateman 2, Thom, Auge. Stultz 2, Schlepp, O’Connell 3, Freudenberg, Nyman, Pisk, Symmes.