Loggers go 2-1 in Polson
The Libby Loggers Legion Baseball spent their Fourth of July weekend at the Polson Fire Cracker Tournament where they took home two wins for the weekend.
The Loggers lost their only game of the tournament on Sunday to the Deer Lodge Wranglers. Collin Johnson was the top scoring player for the Loggers with three runs while Luke Haggerty finished with two.
The Wrangler’s pitcher, Taylor Stone, pitched six strikeouts against the Loggers. Brayden Thom manned the mound for the Loggers and pitched two innings followed by Trace Tammero who pitched 1.67 innings. Haggerty, Dylon Lane and Austin Marshall all pitched .33 innings, with Marshall finishing as the losing pitcher.
“We made some mistakes defensively,” Coach Kelly Morford said. “We need to work on eliminating more of those mistakes. Really, we just need to clean up on defense.”
Although the Loggers ended the weekend with a loss, they played their best games on Friday and Saturday, beating two outstanding teams.
The Loggers beat the Dillon Cubs on Saturday by a score of 11-8. The win was not easy, as the Dillon pitcher, Caleb Peets, pitched 16 strikeouts compared to the two strikeouts pitched by Haggerty and Erik Lauer for the Loggers.
Haggerty pitched three innings, Lauer pitched three innings and Tammero pitched one. Lauer was the winning pitcher for the game, and Peets was the losing pitcher.
The Loggers went head to head against the Mission Valley Mariners and pulled an 11-7 win with Will Reichel as the winning pitcher. Reichel pitched four strikeouts during the game, while the Mariners pitched two.
Oliver Grupenhoff led the Loggers to their victory with three runs batted in, while Trace Tammero and Erik Lauer followed with two runs batted in each. Haggerty, Dylon Lane, Grupenhoff and Reichel each scored two runs.
Morford said his team really turned a corner at the tournament this weekend by driving in more runners and making some great plays.
“We beat a few good teams this weekend,” Morford said. “I am pleased with the way that Erik Lauer played this weekend, and Oliver Grupenhoff was our spark offensively with a lot of RBI’s.”
The Loggers will host the Missoula Mavericks at Lee Gehring Field at 5:05 p.m. today.