Mariners drop season opener, bounce back with split against Pioneers
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POLSON - The Mission Valley Mariners opened the season with a 7-5 loss to the visiting Glacier Twins in cold conditions Thursday but bounced back with a spit against the Missoula Pioneers Sunday.
Both teams managed four hits in the Mariners' matchup with Glacier Thursday, but errors did the Mariners in as Mission Valley committed six miscues while the Twins had four errors.
The teams were tied at three after one inning of play but the Twins took the lead for good with a run in the top of the third. Glacier added two more in the fifth to go up 6-3 but the Mariners answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the Twins' lead to 6-5. The Mariners could not complete the comeback, though, as Glacier added one more run in the eighth on the way to a two-run win.
Jack Humphreys, Jacob Young, Kevin Hagedorn and Dalton Molzhon all had hits for the Mariners in the loss. Young's hit was a double.
Josh Rustad took the loss for the Mariners, giving up four runs (none earned) on one hit and one walk in two and one-third innings of work.
Two errors, a walk and a single helped Glacier grab a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning but the Mariners had an answer in the bottom of the inning.
Jack Humphreys led off the bottom of the first with a single to left for the Mariners and Austin Von Tom followed with a walk. Humphreys scored on a passed ball to cut the Twins' lead to 3-1. Cole McArthur drew a walk and forced a bad throw while stealing second, which allowed Von Tom to score to cut the lead to 3-2. Justin Evertz later drew a walk and was part of a double steal that allowed McArthur to cross the plate to tie the game at three.
Another hit batter and an error allowed another Glacier run to cross the plate in the top of the third inning as the Twins took a 4-3 lead.
Glacier added three more runs in the top of the fifth to go up 6-3 but the Mariners came storming back in the sixth.
Young picked up a one-out double to right to start the Mission Valley rally in the bottom of the sixth and Hagedorn followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Another throwing error allowed Young to score as Hagedorn stole second and another error on a ground ball to short by Molzhon allowed Hagedorn to score as the Mariners cut the lead to one at 6-5.
That was as close as the Mariners would get though as the Twins added a run in the eighth and held on to earn a 7-5 victory.
The Mariners bounced back with a 10-6 win in the opening game of a double-header against the Pioneers in Bonner Sunday.
The teams were tied at 6-6 in the seventh inning when the Mariners added four runs to pull ahead for good.
A pair of home runs did in the Mariners in the second game of the day as the Pioneers hit one to tie the game at two in the bottom of the seventh inning and ended the game with another homerun in the bottom of the eighth.
The Mariners will be back in action at the Kootenai Valley Round Robin in Eureka Friday and Saturday and will be at home against the Missoula Mavericks at 1 p.m. Monday.
