Bandits encounter rough waters to open ‘07 season

 By Mike Brandt • Staff Writer

The first weekend of a Class AA baseball turned out to be a learning experience for the Belgrade Bandits.

The American Legion club, which went 1-3 over the opening weekend, boasts 13 rookies who saw plenty of action. On Saturday the Bandits split with the Emmanuel Lobos, losing the first game 5-2 before rallying to win the second 11-8. Then Belgrade dropped a pair to the Great Falls Electrics on Sunday, 21-13 and 7-5.

“We feel like our kids executed the things we’ve been working on,” Bandits manager Brian Ayers said. “The things we spent the time on the last couple weeks we were solid.”

The coaches weren’t really looking for wins, but wanted to see how many wins the Bandits could get per inning.

“My approach as a coach and what I tell my kids is that you need to win the game within the game,” said Ayers. “We were keeping track on what innings we won. As a coaching staff we’re not worried about wins right now. We just want to win the game within the game.”

Ayers and his staff got a good look at most of the team’s pitchers. Joel Barnett pitched a complete game on Sunday, while Kole Mickolio, Andy Freund, and rookies Matt Thibault, Justin Halvorson, and CJ Layman worked the first game Sunday. RookiesKeldon Graff, Phil Prickett, Bobby Nemeth, and Halvorson saw action on Saturday. Prickett was credited with the lone win against the Lobos.

“We haven’t spent a whole lot of time on pitching,” said Ayers. “We have a lot of kids to throw, we just need to run them out there to see how they would react.”

The Bandits scored a surprising 31 runs in four games.

“We didn’t expect our offense to come out and score as many runs they did today,” said Ayers.

Andy Freund led the team from the plate, going 9-for-14 with three triples. Kole Mickolio was 9-for-16 with three doubles and a triple.

Belgrade will host the Glacier Twins this weekend in a pair of doubleheaders. Action gets underway Saturday at 5 p.m. and resumes Sunday beginning at noon.



Great Falls 7, Belgrade 5

Great Falls 230 100 1 - 7 10 3

Belgrade 001 110 2 - 5 9 6

Nick Taylor, Curtis Bloomfield (5), and Tyler Brinka. Joel Barnett and CJ Berberet.

GREAT FALLS (2-2) - Jake Meierhoff 0-4, Ryan Beecroft 2-4, Zach Semenza 2-4 (3B), Tyler Fayden 2-4 (2B), Shaun Tatarka 2-3, John Reilly 1-4, Brinka 1-3, Reid Tremelli 0-4, Taylor Shanahan 0-3, Taylor 0-0, Bloomfield 0-0.

BELGRADE (1-3) - Matt Thibault 0-3, Connor Schultz 0-1, Lane Berberet 0-0, Pat Freund 0-1, Daniel Kristensen 0-3, Bobby Nemeth 0-1, Andy Freund 1-3, Kole Mickolio 3-4 (2B, 3B), CJ Berberet 1-3, Barnett 2-3, Bryn Harris 0-2, Jeff Hoffman 1-3, Phil Prickett 0-1, Keldon Graff 1-2, Justin Halvorson 0-0.



Great Falls 21, Belgrade 13

Great Falls 070 511 7 - 21 14 4

Belgrade 340 301 2 - 13 15 14

Tatarka, Reilly (5), and Fayden. Mickolio, Andy Freund (4), Thibault (7), Halvorson (7), CJ Layman (7), and CJ Berberet.

GREAT FALLS (1-2) - Meierhoff 2-4 (2 3B), Shanahan 0-5, Semenza 2-4, Fayden 2-4 (3B), Tatarka 2-2 (2B), Bloomfield 1-5 (2B), Casey Johnson 1-3 (2B), Beecroft 1-1, Reilly 2-5, Taylor 1-4.

BELGRADE (1-2) - Thibault 1-4, Kristensen 0-1, Shay Helm 1-1, A. Freund 4-4 (3B), Jordon Prester 0-1, Mickolio 4-5 (2B), CJ Berberet 3-5 (2 2B), Barnett 0-3, Harris 1-3, LD Severson 0-1, Hoffman 0-2, Halvorson 0-0, Layman 1-1, Nemeth 0-1, Lane Berberet 0-1.



Belgrade 11, Emmanuel Lobos 8

Emmanuel 111 140 0 - 8 8 6

Belgrade 202 043 x - 11 9 4

Bryan Schyler, Taylor Boyer (5), Chad Wentling (6), and Steve Goodell. Graff, Halvorson (5), Prickett (5), and Layman.

EMMANUEL (1-1) - Spencer King 0-4, Nathaniel Ray 0-3, Zach Reidelbach 2-4, Garreth Anderson 2-4 (2B), Wentling 0-3, Seth Compton 1-1, Boyer 0-1, Brett Thompkins 2-4 (2B), Kelly Doble 0-0, Goodell 1-3, Brian Vanberg 0-1.

BELGRADE (1-1) - Kevin Peters 0-0, Thibault 1-1, P. Freund 0-0, Helm 0-0, Prester 0-0, A. Freund 2-4 (3B), Mickolio 2-4 (2B), CJ Berberet 0-0, Halvorson 1-2, Prickett 0-0, Barnett 2-4 (2B), Harris 0-1, Severson 0-2, Layman 0-2, Hoffman 0-1, Lane Berberet 1-2, Graff 0-0.



Emmanuel 5, Belgrade 2

Emmanuel 101 210 0 - 5 8 1

Belgrade 200 000 0 - 2 4 3

Jake Williams, Vanberg (5), and Anderson. Peters, Nemeth (4), and Schultz, Thibault (7).

EMMANUEL (1-0) - King 1-4, Ray 0-3, Reidelbach 3-4, Anderson 2-4, Williams 0-3, Boyer 1-3, Compton 0-2, Brad Zoanni 0-3, Doble 1-2, Vanberg 0-1.

BELGRADE (0-1) - Peters 0-4, Kristensen 0-2, A. Freund 2-3 (3B), Mickolio 0-3, Barnett 2-3, Prester 0-0, Graff 0-0, Harris 0-0, Hoffman 0-1, Nemeth 0-2, Schultz 0-2, Thibault 0-1, Prickett 0-3.