HELENA — Jon Burnett wants his team to be playing its best baseball by July.
Well, on the last day of June, the Helena Senators put together one of their best all-around performances in an 8-0 dispatching of the Bozeman Bucks.
Tyler Tenney tossed a complete game shutout – on just 68 pitches – and Helena’s defense did not commit an error behind him. Offensively, the Senators banged out 11 hits and rode a four-run second inning to their 29th win and third conference victory of the season.
Thursday’s game, which was both a Class AA conference tilt and Keith Sell Tournament pool play game, represented Helena’s eighth-straight win.
“Pitching and defense have been solid like they had been early in the year,” Burnett said of his team’s play. “We’re starting to get good at-bats really one through nine in the order. Just to see us figure out our approaches at the plate and to be competitive with every at-bat – if we can do that we’re gonna be a tough team to beat.”
Tenney faced the minimum through the first three innings with the help of a third-inning 4-6-3 double play. A lead-off single by Jake Vigen in the fourth was Bozeman’s first hit of the game and was stranded following three quick fly outs.
Tenney struck Austin Cooper out looking to end the fifth and worked around a one-out single in the sixth. Max Matteucci singled to lead-off the seventh and Tenney plunked Andrew Western with two outs, but got a ground out to preserve the three-hit masterpiece.
“I was hitting my spots and [the Bucks] were helping me out,” Tenney said. “They were rolling over, popping up for me…It was super important, I think, for us to come out and play like this. We started out a little rough in conference and I think we’re starting to get in our flow. I think our bats are coming around. We hit really well today.”
Thursday was Tenney’s fourth start of the season and first complete game. He pitched into the seventh two weeks ago against Billings, but ran up against a pitch count. That was not a problem for the right-hander this time around as he did not walk a batter and fired over 73 percent of his pitches for strikes.
“Any time we have Ty going I think it builds that confidence in the rest of the team,” Burnett said. “They know he’s been doing it for years and that he’s gonna give us a chance to win. If we can just play defense behind him, we’ve got a good shot. He was his efficient self tonight…
“Coming into the season, we planned on him being our ace. Just with the experience he has and the huge outings he had at state and regionals last year. We’ve got other guys we’re confident in, of course, but we always seem to play well when Ty is on the bump.”
Bo Bahnmiller got the party started offensively in the second inning when he lined a ball over the left fielder’s head for a two-run double.
Bahnmiller, who started at shortstop with Tenney on the mound, went 1-for-3 with those two RBI and a run scored in the victory.
“It felt great,” Bahnmiller said of his double. “I’ve kinda been [off] to a slow start, but it felt good to get some RBIs, get guys moving.”
After beginning the season with a three-RBI effort against Missoula, Bahnmiller missed some time with a shoulder injury. He did not play for about three weeks, and since coming back, has struggled to regain his early-season form.
Nevertheless, Bahnmiller has collected four total hits, including two doubles, in his last three games.
“That’s what we saw from Bo to start the year and then he separated that shoulder,” Burnett said. “It’s good to see him getting the swing back to where he was at the start of the year. Defensively – he does a great job at short. Ty is a heck of a shortstop, but I think Bo has more range than him.”
Bahnmiller has committed just three errors in 43 total chances this season and has had the opportunity to shadow a high-level talent in Tenney.
“Me and Ty – we’re pretty tight I’d say,” Bahnmiller said. “He teaches me stuff because he’s been with the program for a while. I just try to do my best…Just fundamental stuff. Footwork is a big part of shortstop and he does help me with that.”
Tenney mashed a double of his own into the left-center field gap in the fifth to extend Helena’s advantage to 5-0. Hunter Wallis’ RBI single made it 6-0 one batter later and Manu Melo capped a three-run frame with the Senators’ sixth hit of the inning.
Trysten Mooney legged out a run-scoring triple in the sixth for good measure.
“We’ve really been focusing on attacking our pitch, like what we want to see, early,” Tenney said of the team’s approach. “We knew today that they would throw a lot of off-speed stuff, so we kept that in mind. We didn’t want to fly out as much as we did last time, so we were just keeping everything on a line.”
Bozeman finishes the month of June 5-11, falls to 13-26 on the season and 2-4 in league play. The Bucks also begin pool play in the Keith Sell 0-1.
The Senators are scheduled to play again on Friday at 8 p.m. against the Saskatoon Giants. The Bucks draw the CPBA Bucks at 5:30.
Pool play for the Keith Sell Tournament continues in earnest on Friday at 10 a.m. with a game between the Great Falls Chargers and Butte Miners.