HELENA — Day 1 of the Cloninger Classic brought a walk off, three late-game rallies and an offensive outburst from the Helena Reps.
Day 2 saw three teams, including the Reps, cement their spot in the tournament semifinals.
Helena Reps 12, Bonneville Bees 3
The Reps are riding a wave of momentum, and after securing their third consecutive run rule victory on Friday night, Helena will play Laurel in the Cloninger Classic semifinals on Saturday night at 8.
Between their back-to-back contests on Friday, the Reps totaled 28 runs on 28 hits.
“The first [game] – I haven’t seen us hit like that in a while,” Reps head coach Brendan McGuire said. “It was just contagious, everybody was up there hitting. We’re just riding that wave right now. It’s awesome…Everybody is just going up there with a simple approach – fastball in the zone and attack.”
Helena advanced through pool play undefeated, mowing down teams with a sustained offensive bombardment. It took a seven-run sixth to end the Reps’ nightcap early, but it was Grady Diehl who dealt the knockout blow to the Bees with a two-RBI hit up the middle.
On the heels of a 10-game skid, the Reps have reeled off six straight victories and have not lost in their last seven games. Since June 18 (seven games), Helena is averaging over 11.4 runs per game and is slashing .421/.520/.569/1.089 as a team.
Benson followed a three-run home run against Lethbridge with a 3-for-4 effort and three more RBI. Devine was 4-for-4 with an RBI out of the two-hole against the Bees.
In his last 26 at-bats, Benson is hitting over .500 with two home runs, two doubles and 12 RBI. His OPS is north of 1.400. Devine is slashing .522/.645/.609/1.254 in his last seven games.
For Benson, it’s all about being able to see the baseball.
“Nick wasn’t wearing his contact lenses and we made him wear his contacts in Bozeman last weekend,” McGuire said. “His first at-bat with contacts, he hit a home run. I think it’s the contacts, personally, and he’s taking a good approach.”
“I got in a little bit of a slump in the middle of the season and decided that I needed to put my contacts in,” Benson said, smiling. “I did and I think I went 4-for-4 the next game and haven’t stopped hitting since…I’m feeling good lately.”
Colt Tietje singled, and scored two, as part of a five-run third inning for the Reps.
Helena opened the door with a couple errors a half-inning later, allowing Bonneville to draw within two. Eli Peterson held the Bees in check from there, retiring five straight batters into the sixth inning.
Peterson was relieved when Bonneville put two runners on with two outs in the sixth. Cole Graham induced a pop-up to get Helena out of the jam and the bats finished the task.
Pool play wraps up Saturday with Lethbridge versus Idaho Falls at 10 a.m. and the Miners versus Bonneville at 12:30 p.m. Those games will help decide the remaining three seeds up for grabs in the Red Bracket. Semifinal play gets underway, beginning with Bozeman versus the Red Bracket’s No. 2 seed, at 5:30.
The Reps would play for a Cloninger Championship in front of their home fans if they win on Saturday.
“When you [advance into the semifinals] at your own tournament, it’s an awesome feeling,” McGuire said. “Hopefully we can get a few more people to come [Saturday], that would be awesome. We’re playing Laurel, they’re always a tough team. We’re playing good baseball right now. It’ll be a good game.”
Helena Reps 16, Lethbridge Miners 1
JR Huschka, Connor Devine and Taylor Kopp each collected three hits and Nick Benson homered and drove in five runs as the Reps improved to 2-0 in Cloninger Classic pool play.
Five Reps enjoyed multi-hit games as Helena rapped out 14 total in three innings.
Lance Bratlien allowed just two hits and an unearned run in four innings of work. He struck out four and walked one.
Benson, whose three-run bomb over the left field fence pushed the Reps’ advantage to 14-1 in the second inning, was his second long-ball in the last six games.
Laurel Dodgers 8, Kalispell Lakers 3
Super senior Richie Cortese rocketed a ball into the left-center field gap, breaking a 3-3 sixth-inning tie with a bases clearing triple and propelling the Dodgers to their second victory in the Cloninger Classic on Friday.
Cortese stepped to the plate with the bases juiced and two outs. Laurel had already tied the contest, clawing back from a 3-1 deficit. The big lefty got in a plus count, identified a pitch to hit, and natural skill took over from there.
“[Kalispell] had just brought in a new pitcher, so I was gonna take a few pitches,” Cortese said of his approach. “I got in a 2-0 count. I usually, when I get in a 2-0 count, I just look for something straight. I’m not gonna swing at a curveball or slider because that’s just not a good approach. I got a fastball on the outer half, I stayed relaxed, and drove it into the gap.”
Cortese was on base three times and drove in four of Laurel’s eight runs in the victory.
For the tournament, Cortese, who plays baseball with his older brother Dawson at Dickinson State, is 4-for-6 with seven RBI and four runs scored.
Reece Dolechek and Issac Nieto each collected two hits for Laurel. Evan Caton walked and scored twice from atop the Dodgers’ lineup.
Ian Bauer pitched into the seventh inning before he hit the 105-pitch limit. He yielded seven hits and three runs (all unearned). He struck out five over 6.2 innings.
Laurel locked up the Blue Bracket’s No. 2 seed with the victory. Pocatello slides into the three seed with a 1-2 record and Kalispell fills the No. 4 seed at 0-3.
Laurel Dodgers 16, Pocatello Razorbacks 9
Laurel sent 15 batters to the plate and scored 11 times in the first inning, eight of which came with two outs.
Braeden Foos singled in the second, scoring Richie Cortese, to extend Laurel’s advantage to 16-1. Pocatello chipped back, scoring twice in the second, three times in the third and three more times in the fifth.
Pocatello’s Kannon Kunz hammered a three-run home run over the left field in the fifth as part of his five-RBI effort, drawing the Razorbacks within seven, but the contest was called after the conclusion of the inning due to tournament timing rules.
“We hadn’t been hitting the last few ball games,” Laurel head coach Doug Studiner said. “We worked really hard before the game in the cage – working on our swing, attacking the baseball – and we did that. Came out and jumped out to a big lead, so I was able to work some other kids into the lineup and use some other pitchers.”
Laurel and Pocatello each lost to Bozeman on Thursday. The Dodgers even their tournament record with Friday’s victory, while the Razorbacks fall to 1-2.
Ian Bauer and Cortese each collected three RBI in the victory. Issac Nieto went 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored. Jace Buchanan and Pierce Caton each added two RBI for Laurel.
Elias Blackhawk was 2-for-2 with two RBI for Pocatello and Garett Keller chipped in two hits.
Bozeman Bucks 7, Kalispell Lakers 6
The Bucks – with their third straight one-run victory – booked a trip to the tournament semifinals and will be the No. 1 seed out of the Blue Bracket. Bozeman will play the Red Bracket’s No. 2 seed on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Staked to a 7-2 advantage entering the sixth inning, Bozeman saw that lead evaporate as Kalispell scored four times over the game’s final two innings.
An error brought the Lakers to within with one and put the tying run on second. Bozeman’s Jadin Frandsen – working in relief of Easton Martin – induced a fly out with runners on first and second to secure the Bucks victory.
“We like to make it interesting, for sure, but these boys are proving that they know how to battle back…Gotta go win a ball game. It’s not always pretty, it’s not always blowing teams out. It’s just straight winning,” Bucks head coach Kyler Stark said.
The Bucks hung a crooked number in the fourth. An error tied the contest at 2-2 and a Dylon Poulin pop-up single scored what proved to be the go-ahead run two batters later.
Bozeman sent 11 batters to the plate in that fourth inning.
Frandsen went 1-for-3 with three RBI in the victory. He also stole a base. Jarrett Hertz drove in two with a single in the Bucks’ big inning.
“We want every at-bat to be a good at-bat,” Stark said. “We focus on base-running program-wide to be able to run with our eyes and understand that, ‘hey, if a ball skips away, we’ve gotta be on our toes and be able to score.’ Had some good at-bats and our base running was good today. I was proud of the guys.”
Martin tossed five innings of two-run baseball for Bozeman. He allowed just one hit – a two-run single in the fourth – and struck out seven.
Adam Nikunen collected two hits and three RBI for Kalispell. Timmy Glanville walked twice out of the three-hole.
Bozeman will wait until pool play is complete to find out its opponent on Saturday.
“[Saturday] is a new day against a new team,” Stark said. “We gotta understand that. We’ve gotta go win that game. These games are awesome, glad we were able to win, but they’re in the past and we’ve gotta focus on what’s coming up.”