Bandits swept during road trip to northwest

 By Mike Brandt • Staff Writer

KALISPELL — It was a rough weekend for the Belgrade Bandits American Legion team. The Bandits were swept in Whitefish by the Glacier Twins, 12-2 and 7-0, then again in Kalispell by the Lakers, 12-2 and 8-1, over the weekend in a pair of non-conference doubleheaders.

“We dropped all four of them,” Bandits manager Brian Ayers said. “We saw the same thing from them (the Twins) that we saw there (in Belgrade). We knew what to expect.”

Old habits die hard, however, and Belgrade had at least one bad inning in each of its losses, like it has for much of the start of the 2007 season.

“Basically, we knew what they were going to do and they did it,” said Ayers. “We didn’t execute. We played well in every game. We allowed runs in one inning of every game.”

A six run second inning in the first game against the Twins broke open that contest, while Kalispell used a six-run burst in the third inning of the first game on Sunday.

Glacier extended its winning streak to seven game on Saturday against the Bandits, and limited Belgrade to just eight total hits. Kole Mickolio led the charge, going a combined 3-for-6 with two doubles.

Pitching was solid for the Bandits most of the weekend, which it has been since the season started. Ayers noted that his starters were sharp on the mound.

“We just didn’t play defense behind them for one inning out of each game,” he added.

Ayers felt that his team matched up well with the Lakers, both teams sporting a young squads.

“We feel like we match up with them. They’re close to us as a team,” said Ayers. “We had big opportunities against them. We ran our selves out of the innings.”

The teams went into the bottom of the fifth inning in the late game scoreless before the Lakers broke the game open with a five-run burst.

Mickolio had another double in the late game, while Kevin Peters was 2-for-2 in the early game.

Belgrade (3-11) returns home this weekend with a pair of doubleheaders against Miles City. Action begins Saturday at 5 p.m.



Kalispell 8, Belgrade 1

Belgrade 000 001 0 - 1 6 NA

Kalispell 000 053 x - 8 9 NA

Andy Freund and C.J. Berberet; John White and Hergesheimer.

BELGRADE (3-11) - Kevin Peters 0-1, Dan Kristensen 0-4, Freund 0-3, Kole Mickolio 1-3 (2B), Berberet 1-3 (2B), Joel Barnett 1-3, Jeff Hoffman 2-2, Bryn Harris 0-3, Phil Prickett 1-3.

KALISPELL - Scott 3-3 (2B), Hergesheimer 1-3, Reichhoff 2-4, Olsen 0-4, White 2-3, (2B), Ford 0-2, Sneck 0-1, Roehl 0-3, Hankinson 0-2, Keller 1-3, Zapata 0-1.



Kalispell 12, Belgrade 2

Belgrade 110 00 - 2 6 NA

Kalispell 106 23 - 12 8 NA

Barnett, Keldon Graff (4) and Berberet; Neils and Lawrence.

BELGRADE (3-10) - Peters 2-2, Justin Halvorson 0-2, Freund 0-2, Mickolio 0-2, Berberet 1-2, Hoffman 0-1, Jordon Prester 1-2, Harris 1-2, Barnett 1-2.

KALISPELL - Scott 0-3, Hergesheimer 1-2, Reichhoff 2-2 (2B), Olsen 1-3, Toby Liechti 0-1, Keller 2-4, Zapata 1-3, Hankinson 1-2, Lawrence 0-0, Ford 0-2.



Glacier 7, Belgrade 0

Belgrade 003 200 0 - 5 6 2

Glacier 302 101 x - 7 8 3

Kevin Peters and CJ Layman. Ridings, Hader, Peterson and Caron.

BELGRADE (3-9) - Dan Kristensen 0-2, Shay Helm 0-1, Jordan Prester 0-1, Peters 2-4, Andy Freund 0-3, Kole Mickolio 2-3 (2B), Joel Barnett 0-2, Phil Prickett 0-3, Matt Thibault 0-0, Jeff Hoffman 2-2 (2B), Justin Halvorson 0-2, Layman 0-2, Lane Berberet 0-1, Bayan Harris 0-1.

GLACIER (9-1) — Nielsen 1-4, Caron 1-2, Bell 0-1, Ridings 0-2, Peterson 0-3, Collom 3-3 (2B), Yogodzinski 1-2 (2B), Beasley 1-3, Bougher 0-2, Hill 1-1, Hader 0-2.



Glacier 12, Belgrade 2

Belgrade 110 000 - 2 2 2

Glacier 160 023 - 12 12 5

Mickolio, Halvorson and CJ Berberet and CJ Layman. Collom, Palmer and Caron.

BELGRADE (3-8) - Peters 0-2, Lane Berberet 0-2, Hoffman 0-3, Freund 0-2, Mickolio 1-3 (2B), CJ Berberet 1-2, Layman 0-0, Barnett 0-2, Graff 0-0, Prickett 0-1, Thibault 0-1, Halvorson 0-1, Harris 0-2, LD Severson 0-0, Pat Freund 0-1, Prester 0-1.

GLACIER (8-1) - Palmer 3-4 (2B), Nielsen 0-4, Collom 0-3, Peterson 0-3, Caron 1-2, Hill 1-3, Chambers 1-2, Yogodzinski 3-4 (2B), Ridings 2-4, Hader 1-1.