Loggers take 2 at Glacier; still in hunt for title

The sweat started gathering around pitcher Chris Herbig’s brow right from the start.

At the end, he was wiping it away in relief.

Libby’s Herbig got in and out of jams all afternoon and held on for a two-hit complete game victory as the Loggers downed the Glacier Twins, 4-2, in the first game of a Western A conference doubleheader Friday at Memorial Park in Whitefish.

In the nightcap, Libby’s Colton Cannon extended his hitting streak to 14 games and the Loggers completed the sweep with a 12-3 win, which earned them a shot at playing for the conference title.

Libby improved to 7-3 in the conference, 19-17 overall and was scheduled to play host to the Kootenai Valley Rangers for a doubleheader on Tuesday. Libby must sweep two from the Rangers to win the conference title.

Against the Twins in the second game, Joe Coker went 4-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs.

Glacier’s Connor Waterud had the lone offensive push for the Twins and hit a three-run double in the fifth.

While the bats were alive for Libby in the second game, it might have been because they took some warming up in the opener while Herbig kept his composure on the mound.

In the first inning, Herbig hit two batters and walked another, and Glacier scored off an error to knot the game, 1-1.

After that, Herbig got into a rhythm and retired 10 straight batters until Glacier’s Jordan Toman reached base on an error in the fifth.

Herbig had a no-hitter going through five innings when Bryn Thomas slipped a bunt down the third-base line for a hit.

Glacier went on to load the bases twice more in the next two frames after Libby fumbled on the defensive end.

But after a huddle on the mound, Herbig calmed down and sat five of the next six.

“It’s a matter of coming up with the opportunities we had and making something of them,” Glacier coach Nick Schwanz said. “You got to come up with the big hits, basically.”

Eric Riddle went 2-for-2 with an RBI and Coker knocked a double for Libby’s none extra-base hit off Glacier starter Michael Heeter.