Lakers B beat Loggers at home, 12-7
Kalispell’s A.J. Wood dives back to first base as Trey Thompson checks his runner on a throw from pitcher Tim Carvey, top of the third inning vs. Lakers B Wednesday evening. (Paul Sievers/The Western News)
Lakers’ A.J. Wood struggles with the ball as Trey Thompson steals third in the bottom of fifth inning with two out. (Paul Sievers/The Western News)
Kalispell’s Ethan Diede reaches first on a bad throw to first baseman Austin McCully top of the sixth inning. (Paul Sievers/The Western News)
Quade Anderson steals third in the bottom of the seventh inning with one out Wednesday evening. The Loggers fell to the Lakers B 12-7 in the nine-inning contest. (Paul Sievers/The Western News)
The Libby Loggers fought through a nine inning rollercoaster Wednesday in a 12-7 loss to the Kalispell Lakers B.
Libby showed improvement after the 11-1 loss the Lakers B team inflicted on them in six innings only a week before.
Libby’s Garrett Gollahon — who was to lead the Loggers in RBIs — made his first RBI with a double that sent Tim Carvey home.
But the Lakers took the lead in the second when Kalispell’s Danny Kernan batted in three runners on a hard line drive to center field.
In the Bottom of the third, Gollahon made his second RBI with another double off a fly to left field, once again sending Carvey home, and bringing the score to 4-2, Kalispell.
By the bottom of the fourth, the Loggers had shaved down the Lakers lead 5-4. Chris Auge doubled off a line drive to right field, bringing in Cole Murphy, then Auge scored on a grounder by Jeff Offenbecher.
Early in the fifth, the Loggers still held close, despite a score by Kalispell’s Aiden Smith off a grounder to right field by Alex Skerlock.
But as the Lakers loaded the bases without an out, the pressure became evident. Carvey fumbled with a grounder from Kalispell’s Jack Corriveau, throwing the ball high over Trey Thompson’s head at first base. The Lakers took advantage of the error with two runners in, establishing an 8-4 lead.
In the top of the seventh inning, with Carvey approaching 100 pitches, Manager Kelly Morford put Offenbecher on the mound, but by the time the Loggers came to bat, Kalispell led 11-4.
Alex Svendsbye made a sacrificial fly to left field, allowing Quade Anderson to score, but that out put the Loggers at two.
Murphy followed with a ground ball to left field, and a series of errors across the Kalispell defense gave Austin McCully — who had been on first — a run.
Heading into the eighth inning, the 11-6 score kept some hope alive as the Loggers held Kalispell to a single hit and no runs in the top of the inning.
Yet, Libby was unable to make up for lost time in the bottom of the inning, and in the top of the ninth Kalispell’s Ethan Diede doubled on a fly to center field that almost reached the fence, allowing Corriveau to make the score 12-6.
But, the Loggers kept fighting to the end. In the bottom of the ninth, David Salgado singled on a line drive to center field, and an error let him advance to second.
Gollahon took advantage of the same error to reach home, tightening up the score 12-7.
Morford said Carvey is showing he is the team’s best chance to win. Though Morford felt Wednesday wasn’t the best pitching he has seen out of Carvey, he said it was still an improvement over what the Loggers were able to throw at Kalispell a week before.
Carvey had only two walks against the Lakers, and Morford said he thinks Carvey will improve on that.
“We just need to play a little defense behind him,” Morford said.
With runners too often left on base, the team has room to improve there as well, he said.
“We’re not being real aggressive there and getting the ball in play. We’re kind of sittin’ back and hoping somethin’ happens instead of gettin’ after it,” he said.
Yet, the team is also showing they have the ability to make the plays. On a fielder’s choice in the third inning, Carvey made a split second decision that got him an out at third.
It was one of many plays throughout the game that contrasted sharply against errors that caused routine plays to slip away into an extra base or even a run scored for Kalispell.
Morford acknowledged the team needs to work on their mental game and recovery.
“We’re spinning our wheels a little bit on the mental side,” he said. “And that’s what I told them is that, we’re going to get beat, that’s one thing, but we’ve gotta get something out of it by internalizing some of this stuff mentally.”
After a rough start to the season, part of what the team needs is simply to have the confidence building of a win, he said.
Wednesday, May 30
Kalispell 12, Libby 7
K 040 131 201 - R:12 H:12 E:2
L 101 200 201 - R:7 H:11 E:8
AB-H
K: Jack Corriveau 6-3, 3R, 1K; Danny Kernan 4-1, 1K; Ayden Drier 2-0, 1K; Ethan Diede 5-1, 1R, 1BB; AJ Wood 4-1; Aiden Smith 3-1, 2R, 1BB; Zach Cunningham 2-0, 1K; Caden Willis 6-1; Alex Skerlock 5-1, 2R, 1K; Grady Drish 3-2, 3R, 2BB; Mckade Schara 4-1, 1R; Totals 44-12, 12R, 4BB, 5K
L: Tim Carvey 2-0, 2R, 2BB, 1K; Jeff Offenbecher 4-1, 1K; Quade Anderson 5-1, 1R; Garrett Gollahon 5-3, 1R, 2K; Austin McCully 3-0, 1R, 1K; David Salgado 1-1; Trey Thompson 3-1, 1K; Alex Svendsbye 1-0; Cole Murphy 3-2, 1R, 1BB; Joe Reynolds 1-0, 1K; Chris Auge 4-1, 1R, 1K; Ethan Borden 2-0, 1K; Moxley Roesler-Begalke 2-1, 1K
Batting: 2B - Corriveau 2, Diede, Kernan; Anderson, Auge, Gollahon 3, Thompson; TB - Skerlock, Schara, Corriveau 5, Willis, Wood, Drish 2, Diede 2, Smith, Kernan 2; Anderson 2, Auge 2, Gollahon 6, Murphy 2, Offenbecher, Roesler-Begalke, Salgado, Thompson 2; ROE - Skerlock, Corriveau, Wood, Diede 3, Kernan; Offenbecher; RBI - Skerlock, Schara, Corriveau 3, Wood, Diede, Kernan 3; Auge, Gollahon 2, Salgado, Svendsbye
Pitching: W - Ethan Diede 6, 100 P, .680 S%, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 8 SO, 3 BB; Zach Cunningham 3, 40 P, .625 S%, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB; L - Tim Carvey 6, 94 P, .649 S%, 7 H, 9 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 2 BB; Jeff Offenbecher 3, 44 P, .636 S%, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 SO, 2 BB