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Rebuilding the Twins

By Beacon Staff

There’s a revival taking place on the classic baseball diamond of Memorial Field in Whitefish.

The bats are hot. The defense and pitching are sound. But most importantly, and most noticeably, the Glacier Twins’ spirits are bright.

“It’s just been really fun. I think the boys are actually having fun playing,” said Twins skipper Bob Rupp.

It is too soon to declare victory on a season that’s less than two months old, but the excitement surrounding the legion baseball team in Whitefish, which is 14-9 overall and 8-1 in conference, is well deserved.

A proud program with roots dating back to the 1930s and tradition built on soaring success in the 1980s, culminating with the 1986 state championship, fell into a sad state over the last decade. The team has not had a winning season in more than 10 years and was 45-183 in conference games between 2002 and 2012. Since Jack Helber resigned midway through the 2006 campaign, after four years with the team, the Twins have had seven different head coaches in eight seasons.

When the decision was made last December to drop the Twins Class AA team it appeared to be yet another painful blow for a program with diminishing enrollment.

But now in Class A, Glacier is finding signs of encouragement with each game this season. The rebuilding has begun.

“The enthusiasm is picking back up. They’re buying into it. That’s what we want,” Rupp said.

The Twins have already doubled their win total from all of last season. In their first few games of the season, they scored more runs than in all of 2012.

Yes, they’re playing in a different league against smaller programs than before. But that doesn’t diminish the strides the team has made.

In the conference opener, Glacier swept the fourth-ranked team in Class A, the Bitterroot Bucs in Florence, 14-1 and 2-1.

In early May, the Twins squared off against their longtime rivals, the Kalispell Lakers AA team at home, and picked up an impressive victory, 13-3. Kalispell responded last week by blanking the Twins 7-0 after Dillon Eaves pitched a no-hitter and near-perfect game.

Rupp has taken over as the new head coach and, as a former Twins player who grew up in Whitefish, brings with him that proud tradition.

His focus is not only on the field but off, where he hopes to find players from Whitefish or Columbia Falls who might be interested in joining the rising program.

To help in the rebuilding, Rupp has assembled a coaching staff with other former players and coaches, including Lindsay Fansler, Kyler Blades and Jeremy Nielsen.

He can also lean on a group of veterans: Shane Marcille, Jake Slaybaugh, Peter Seymour and Bobby Simmons.

“They’ve become leaders,” Rupp said.

Head coach Bob Rupp, center left, talks to his team about the weekend’s games after an evening Glacier Twins practice at Memorial Field in Whitefish. – Lido Vizzutti | Flathead Beacon

The Twins have nurtured an exciting style of play thanks to a lineup filled with speed. Glacier stole 10 bases in a 12-5 victory over Kalispell’s A team on June 5.

“We got lots of speed and I like to bunt and play small ball,” Rupp said. “These guys are buying into it and it’s fun to watch.”

Kalispell Lakers
The Lakers are entering into the heart of the conference schedule and swept Great Falls recently with impressive offensive outings. Kalispell is 3-2 in AA.

Ryan Malmin, in his eighth season as head coach, has four talented returning starters in the lineup — Dillon Eaves, Sean O’Connell, Dillon Matteson and Adam Frandsen.

“There’s a lot of experience in those four kids,” he said. “It’s a nice mixture of veterans and rookies.”

The Lakers also have some nice depth on the mound, with a bona fide ace. Eaves recently notched a near-perfect game against the Twins A team. Earlier this month, Eaves struck out 14 batters and allowed no hits. An error in the third inning kept the perfect game from happening, but it was still an impressive performance.

Kalispell is faced with a reorganized league now that Glacier and Butte have dropped their AA teams. There are nine AA clubs and the top eight will advance to the state tournament in Billings, July 31-Aug. 4.

The Lakers are hoping to return to the state tournament after missing out a year ago, when the club went 29-22.

Between 2006 and 2012, the Lakers earned six top-four finishes in the Western AA conference, seven tournament championships and a third-place finish in the 2010 Montana State Baseball Tournament.