Winners of five of the last six games, the Kalispell Lakers are riding a hot streak into the Class AA American Legion State Tournament in Missoula.
The Lakers (38-19 overall) capped the baseball regular season with a doubleheader sweep of Butte on July 23, winning 11-1 and 3-0 at Griffin Field to grab the No. 5 seed in the state tournament bracket.
The Lakers open tournament action on Wednesday, July 27 at 12:30 p.m. against the fourth-seeded Helena Senators. The Lethbridge Elks begin the tournament at 9:30 a.m. against the Billings Royals. The Billings Scarlets play the Medicine Hat Monarchs at 4 p.m., and the Missoula Mavericks take on the Bozeman Bucks at 7 p.m.
Kalispell, the second-smallest legion baseball program in terms of numbers, is returning to the state tournament as a top-five team for the third time in five years.
“I feel like we’re starting to heat up at the right time,” said Andrew Schleusner, the Lakers’ veteran catcher, said.
Indeed, the Lakers appear to be peaking at the right time after a few mid-season stumbles. Kalispell picked up a noteworthy win over the Missoula Mavericks earlier in the season and also swept the Helena Senators in early May, winning 4-3 and 6-0. They later swept a talented Bozeman squad as well.
After dropping a few close games over the ensuing months, Kalispell has righted the ship with speed and sharpness on the mound, and an offense made up of clutch hitters.
“This is probably the fastest team that I’ve had, so we’ve been able to put more pressure on teams on the bases than we have in a really long time,” head coach Ryan Malmin said. “Trying to push the envelope on the bases is huge.”
The Lakers are batting over .300 as a team. Patrick O’Connell leads the group with 66 hits, a .359 batting average and 33 RBI. Schleusner is hitting .325 with a team-high 53 RBI. Spencer Pisk is batting .366 with 24 RBI, Dawson Smith is hitting .349, and Joe Broughlin has 40 RBI.
Micah Benson leads the team in stolen bases with 35, followed by O’Connell and Haydn Schlepp, who both have 22.
The Lakers graduated nearly all of its pitchers from a year ago, but this year’s rotation has answered the call with a team ERA of 3.73. Leif Ericksen has developed into one of the state’s best pitchers with a 2.25 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 83.67 innings. He has a 12-1 record.
“Leif Ericksen has been absolutely tremendous for us on the mound,” Malmin said of the Glacier High School graduate who will play football at Whitworth University next fall.
Smith has a 3.30 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 78.67 innings and a record of 8-5. Logan DeCock is 6-5 with a 4.10 ERA in 68 innings pitched. Micah Benson is 7-1 with a 4.82 ERA in 40 innings. Schleusner has turned into a trusty closer as well, with six saves and 38 strikeouts in 35 innings of work.
“We’ve had our ups and downs but it feels good to get hot at this late point of the season,” Ericksen said. “It took us getting together as a team and realizing that we only have so many games guaranteed left. We want to make the most of them.”
Last year, Kalispell similarly entered the state tournament with a hot streak but left after two straight losses.
“That felt bad. We just want to get back there and prove we can do something at state,” Schleusner said. “We know we’re a good team. We’ve been through a lot of peaks and valleys as the season goes and we feel like we’re on the upward slope.”
At last year’s state tournament, the Billings Scarlets defeated the Royals 7-1 to win the state title. The Scarlets cruised through the bracket with a perfect 5-0 record en route to their first title since 2011. The Royals eliminated defending champion Missoula 10-8 in the semifinal round to advance to the championship game.
While many perennial contenders are back this year, the field appears to be open to the hottest team. Maybe even a speedy team on a streak from Kalispell.
“It’s pretty wide open,” Malmin said. “Whatever team gets hot and does the little things will go deep into the state tournament.”
Glacier Twins Advance to State A Legion Tournament
The Glacier Twins lost in the championship game of the Western A district baseball tournament but still earned a shot at the state tourney.
In a rematch of last year’s Western A finale, the Bitterroot Red Sox defeated the Twins 23-2 on Sunday in Florence. The Twins (36-22 overall) were playing in the district championship game for the third year in a row. The Twins advanced to this week’s state tournament in Great Falls. Tournament action begins Thursday with the Twins playing Laurel at 1 p.m.
Glacier edged the Lakers’ A squad 11-10 in loser-out action to advance to the district final. James Sampson-Keck was 4-5 against Kalispell and AJ Wetsch had three RBI. Jesse Walburn had two RBI and Tristin Steinwand hit a homer.