Kelso, Boise use big sticks

Kelso coach Grady Tweit never told his baseball team what kind of offensive numbers the Missoula Mavericks put up this year.

But he knew, which his why he was a nervous wreck through most of Pacific Tech’s first-round game of the American Legion Northwest Region tournament on a sweltering Thursday afternoon at Gonzaga University.

Finally, the power-packed Montana state champions ran out of answers, especially against reliever Justin Gillen, and the Washington champs broke the game open for a 13-5 win.

“This dang team, they persevere,” Tweit said. “They’re going to give me 12 more heart attacks. I had about 14 that game.”

Kelso scored its first eight runs in four different innings, including the four-run eighth that broke a 4-4 tie, despite not getting a base runner until two were out.

Backing a multitude of hitting stars, Montana’s entry hit .380 with 66 home runs in winning 64 of 73 games. But Gillen kept them off balance. After a walk and bloop single to his first two batters that cost starter Mikey Murray a chance at the win and a lead-off home run in the next inning that tied the game again in the seventh, Gillen came up big.

“You have to take your hat off to a kid like that,” Tweit said. “You’ve seen people fold in a hurry after a big shot like that. Our team backed him up. After seeing him get tough, they got tough.”

In the opener, the Boise Gems coasted past the Anchorage Lynx 18-3 in a game called in the seventh inning.

“We’re fortunate but we thought we’d come out and hit,” Boise coach Larry Price said. “(A fast start) gave us a cushion to be able to do things … not having to leave in the arms for any amount of time.”

Boise 18, Anchorage 3: The Gems (29-12) took the suspense out of this one early, scoring six runs in the bottom of the first inning on just three hits and adding five more in the second. It was 13-1 after three innings with eight of Boise’s starters scoring.

“I like pitching with a lead,” Boise starter Joe Wewers said. “I can make a few mistakes and still have the lead. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way.”

Alaska starter Colton Lauwers, who only gave up 18 runs coming into the tournament, struggled and departed in the second inning after allowing 11.

He hit three of the first four batters, walking the other, to open the scoring with three hits following for six runs. Alaska pitchers hit eight batters.

The Gems had six hits in the second inning to effectively end the game as the Lynx were short-handed because three position players went to Puerto Rico to play in a tournament.

The Idaho state champs had plenty of opportunity to score on their 15 hits and 12 walks.

Ryan Humphrey, Jordan Atkins and Ryan Rambur led the hit parade with three hits apiece with No. 9 hitter Cody Price driving in five runs.

“When you’re pitching with the lead you’ve got to throw to the strike zone, have a little fun out there,” Wewers said. “Let them hit it, let our defense play. Just have fun.”

Wewers only worked five innings, allowing five hits and two runs. He struck out six and walked two.

“I think (coach Price) is trying to keep us all fresh for the next couple of games, give everybody experience on this mound, in this atmosphere,” Wewers said.

Lauwers had three of the nine Anchorage (25-7) hits.

Kelso 13, Missoula 5: Both starters struggled a little but only gave up three runs.

Kelso (31-14) got a run with three-straight singles in the top of the second and two more in the fifth on a home run by Nolan Enriquez, just his second of the season. It was the second homer allowed by Missoula starter Andrew Sopko, who turns 16 on Sunday, in more than 80 innings.

A pair of walks and a single tied the game in the bottom of the third and the Mavericks (64-10) tied it again in the sixth with four singles and a walk.

Both teams scored in the seventh, Kelso with a pair of two out singles sandwiched around a walk and Missoula on Steven DeYoung’s third homer leading off the bottom of the inning.

“I’m the kind of person that gets nervous in tight games,” Gillen said. “But I’ve been in several tight games and I know what to do. … They can definitely hit the ball. After seeing Mikey, who’s hit 94 (mph) before, I only throw about 84-ish, I knew they’d be in front of my ball. I knew I had to slow it down a little more.”

Then came the eighth, when Derrick Salberg and Carl Johnson singled, Lane Sari tripled and Garrett McCoy doubled, all with two outs.

“The difference in that big inning was we changed our approach,” Tweit said. “We went to two-strike hitting. We were trying to pull balls, jerk balls. Just hit up the middle, line drives, that’s what we emphasize here.”

In the five-run ninth, Kelso got a monster three-run home run over the screen in right field from Brandon Middleton.