Loggers struggle in Lewiston tourney
<p>Libby's Erik Lauer reaches for a tag at second base in a game against the Glacier Twins A on Wednesday, July 8 in Whitefish.</p>
The Libby Loggers had a rough go at it over the weekend in Lewiston. Winning one out of four games.
“We didn’t play as well as we had hoped down in Lewiston,” Loggers manager, Kelly Morford said.
The Loggers won the first game of the weekend over Lewis and Clark, 12-9.
“Against Lewis and Clark on the first day we had a huge grand slam from Oliver Grupenhoff,” Morford said. “That was an absolute bomb and it was kind of the talk of the tournament for the rest of the weekend.”
Grupenhoff finished the game with his grand slam and a double, while driving in four runs.
Trace Tamarro came up with a big hit during the top of the seventh that helped put the game out of reach.
“They brought in their closer to shut the door, but Trace put a good swing on the first pitch he saw that gave us two more runs and kind of put the game away,” Morford said.
The Loggers lost their game Friday, July 10 against the Nampa Braves, 8-2. Jared Winslow picked up three hits in the losing effort.
The Loggers couldn’t overcome a six run fifth inning on Saturday, July 11 against Owyhee. The six run fifth inning helped Owyhee defeat the Loggers, 10-2.
The Loggers dropped their final game of the weekend to the Moscow Blue Devils, 11-3 on Sunday.
Grupenhoff picked up three hits and drove in one run for the Loggers.
Morford thought the pitching wasn’t up to par this weekend.
“Our starting pitching for the most part didn’t really give us a chance to win a ball game,” he said. “We didn’t throw enough strikes and when we did we were just trying to get the ball over the plate, instead of hitting a location. It seemed like every time we walked a few people, we gave up a base hit to let them score. We have pitched a lot better at times this season and we need to get back to that in the next few weeks.”
Despite the tough weekend, Morford believes this team will finish the season strong.
“We have a big push of conference games coming up to finish the season,” he said. “As far as I can tell we can still finish anywhere from third to sixth in the conference. We need to go out and win some of these games. Hopefully we can be better on the hill and get everyone rolling offensively. It is going to take sharper focus from the boys than we had in Lewiston, but we have been able to do that before and I know it is there.”
Box Score July 9
Loggers: 200 5005 12 12 3
Cubs: 400 2012 9 11 2
Loggers Batting
2B: Trace Tamarro 2, Oliver Grupenhoff
HR: Grupenhoff
Grand Slam: Grupenhoff
TB: Mason Chapel 2, Luke Haggerty, Taylor Wisdom 3, Tamarro 4, Grupenhoff 6, Collin Johnson 2
RBI: Haggery, Tamarro 2, Jared Winslow 2, Grupenhoff 4
Cubs Batting
3B: Borth
TB: Powell 2, Way 2, Wallace 2, Washburn 3, Baldwin, Borth 3
RBI: Powell, Wallace 2, Washburn 3, Baldwin
Box Score July 10
Loggers: 100 1000 2 6 3
Braves: 122 102 8 6 1
Loggers Batting
2B: Jared Winlsow
3B; Collin Johnson
TB: Taylor Wisdom, Winslow 4, Olver Grupenhoff, Johnson 3
RBI: Mason Chapel, Luke Haggerty
Braves Batting
2B; Bernal
TB: Bernal 2, King 3, Villinueva, Calhoun
RBI: Bernal 2, King, Villinueva 2, Calhoun
Box Score July 11
Owyhee: 011 26 10 9 2
Loggers: 011 00 2 3 1
Owyhee Batting
2B: Williams, Collett
TB: Williams 3, Collett 3, Carter, Clapp 2, Chapman, Freelove
RBI: Williams 2, Collett 3, Deal 2, Chapman
Loggers Batting
TB: Mason Chapel, Braydan Thom, Erik Lauer
RBI: Chapel, Lauer
Box Score July 12
Loggers: 000 210 3 7 0
Blue Devils: 123 014 11 12 1
Loggers Batting
2B: Oliver Grupenhoff
TB: Mason Chapel, Trace Tamarro 2, Jared Winslow, Grupenhoff 4
RBI: Tamarro, Grupenhoff
Blue Devils Batting
2B: Duke Richardson, Casey Grady
3B: Charlie Lidean
HR: Eric Redinger
TB: Richardson 3, Cade Knott, Chad Robertson 2, Taylor Malm, Redinger 5, Matt Shears, Lidean 3, Grady 3
RBI: Richardson, Knott, Robertson, Taylor Malm, Redinger 2, LIdean, Grady 2