GVO advances at district

 By Mike Brandt • Staff Writer

DEER LODGE — Defending Southern A District champion Gallatin Valley began its title defense with a bang Thursday in Deer Lodge.

The Outlaws, powered by two home runs and five extra base hits, coasted to a 13-0 rout over the struggling Anaconda A’s in a first round battle at Legion Field.

With the victory, Gallatin Valley moved into a quaterfinal game today against Livingston at 5:30 p.m. The Braves upset the Deer Lodge Wardens, 13-5, in other first round action.

Gallatin Valley jumped on the A’s in the first inning, scoring five runs, then added four more in the second for a commanding 9-0 lead. Then Outlaws put four more runs across the plate in the fourth, eventually ending the game in the seventh via the 10-run mercy rule.

Long-time Gallatin Valley manager Duwayne Scott was a little concerned going into the tournament. He didn’t know if his club would come out and play hungry or look past Anaconda (1-32) since the Outlaws have a free pass into the state tournament as the host team.

“You have to jump on a team like Anaconda, otherwise if you don’t come out right away you’re going to get beat,” said Scott. “We did what we needed to do and what we should do. You just don’t know how the kids are going to come out since we are in the state tournament. It wasn’t that I was afraid that we would lose, I was afraid the kids wouldn’t focus.”

Gallatin Valley got the bats working right from the start, getting six hits in the first inning and finishing with 13.

Sean Cronan started the ball rolling with a single to center field in the bottom of the first inning. Conner Moore followed with another hit to center, then Cronan scored on an error by A’s pitcher Eddie Young, who threw to first in an attempt to get Moore out on a pick off. The ball got past Anaconda’s first baseman Mike Lucier, allowing Cronan to score and Moore to advance to third.

Matt Workman doubled to center, scoring Moore for a 2-0 lead. Then Matt Enriquez brought Workman home on a grounder. Ben Elsbernd doubled to right and later scored on Cameron Frost’s single to left. Frost eventually came in to score on Evan Larrabaster’s single.

The second inning was highlighted by Ari Crawford’s two-run home run over the center field fence for a 9-0 lead. Enriquez had drawn a two-out walk, followed by Elsbernd’s single. Then they scored on an error by Anaconda’s left fielder Cramer Clark.

Frost, who was 2-for-4 from the plate, belted a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Prior to that, Workman had reached on an error and scored on Enriquez’ double to left field. Elsbernd (3-for-3 with a double) also had an infield single.

“Ari has been hitting the ball well in practice, now we just have to get him to do that in the game,” said Scott. “And on that swing he did hit the ball well. And Frost, he’s just been hitting the crap out of the ball. Hopefully he can stay hot for us the next two weeks.”

Chris Boyce started on the mound for the Outlaws, working five innings. Joe Lemp wrapped up the game, working two innings. They combined for a three-hit shutout with Boyce giving up two of the hits.

“Chris was at 49 pitches so I got him out just in case we need him Friday or Saturday,” said Scott. “At least that way he will be able to go. He could be ready Saturday. He might give us an inning on Saturday and some on Sunday. Then if we have that if necessary game on Monday he can start.

“We have to look at the long run of this and not the short run. Because we could go out and get beat. That’s why we went with Chris, knowing that he’s going to give us some quality innings. But I think it was our bats that came out in that first inning. I thought that was very important for us to come out like that. It’s going to be even more important tomorrow.”

In other first round action on Thursday, fourth-seeded Bozeman upset Dillon, the top-seed out of the west sub-division, 6-1. The Spikes (16-37) will face Helena (45-22-1) in the quarterfinals today at 2:30 p.m.

“I think Bozeman is the best 1-11 team in the conference,” said Scott. “Their record isn’t indicative to how their season has been. They are actually a pretty good baseball team. I have a lot of the kids in the fall. And I know what they are capable of doing.”

Dillon dropped into the loser-out portion of the bracket and will face Butte (17-32) today at 8:30 a.m. Deer Lodge and Anaconda will play the other loser-out game at 11:30 a.m.



Gallatin Valley 13, Anaconda 0

Anaconda 000 000 0 - 0 3 4

Gallatin Valley 540 400 x - 13 13 0

Chris Bowe, Joe Lemp (6) and Matt Enriquez; Eddy Young and Eric Boyd, Jayce Barclay (5).

W - Bowe. L - Young.

ANACONDA (1-32) - Eric Boyd 0-2, Jayce Barclay 0-1, Mike Van Meel 1-3, Clark Hensley 1-2, Eddy Young 0-3, Mike Lucier 1-3, Ryan Hempstead 0-3, Cramer Clark 0-2, John Stoppler 0-2, Trace Forkan 0-1, Jerod Arneson 0-1.

GALLATIN VALLEY (40-33) - Sean Cronan 1-5, Conner Moore 1-4, Matt Workman 1-4 (2B), Matt Enriquez 1-3 (2B), Ben Elsbernd 3-3 (2B), Cameron Frost 2-4 (HR), Ari Crawford 2-4 (HR), Hunter Gordon 1-2, Evan Larrabaster 1-4. RBIs - Frost 4, Crawford 2, Enriquez 2, Moore, Larrabaster.



Helena 2, Butte 0

Helena 000 100 100 - 2 7 1

Butte 000 000 000 - 0 6 1

Buzzie Davies and Kyle Knoell; Zach Fisher and Matt Burgess. W - Fisher, L - Davies

BUTTE (17-32) - Joe Newman 0-4, Gabe Kissell 2-4, Nick Dodge 1-3, Shawn Duffy 2-3 (2B), Bryan Baker 1-4, Kevin Ellingwood 0-3, Kade Henderson 0-4, Knoell 0-4, AJ Acuna 0-3.

HELENA (45-22-1) - Jake Harris 2-3 (2B), Matt Burgess 2-4, Tony Roberts 2-4, Jarin Gassett 1-4, Jimmy Mayer 0-2, Kyle McLean 0-2, Jared Clairmont 0-2, Lee Mueller 0-3, Cole Andriolo 0-3. RBIs - Harris 2.



Note: Boxscores from the other two games were not available by deadline on Thursday.