Baseball: Bucks one loss from elimination after 16-5 loss to Boise

By PETE DELMOE Chronicle Sports Writer

It was a long night for the Bozeman Bucks at the Northwest Regional AA Legion Tournament.

SEAN SPERRY/CHRONICLE Bozeman's first baseman Sean Potkay catches a toss from catcher Ryan Minkoff after Boise's Andrew Shoemaker bunted in the third inning, Friday during the second day of the Northwest Regional AA American Legion Tournament. The Boise (Idaho) Gems dominated the Bucks 16-5 in front of another big crowd at Heroes Park, in a game that last nearly 3 ½ hours. This time, many of the hometown fans went home early and unhappy.

Bucks ace Chris Schmidt got off to a rough start in the first inning, as he gave up three straight hits to start the game. The third hit, a single up the middle by Braden Tullis, gave the Gems their first run of the game. After a sacrifice fly and a two-out single, the Bucks found themselves trailing 3-0.

Schmidt also ran into trouble in the second inning after another leadoff single and a walk, but Matt Comer made a nice play at second base to turn the 4-3 double-play. Unfortunately for Schmidt, he couldn’t take advantage as the next batter, Sam Richter, lofted a two-run homer over the left field fence for a 5-0 lead.

Richter, who has two home runs in the tournament, went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two runs batted in.

Schmidt then gave up a walk, a single, a hit batsman and his night was done, leaving with the bases loaded after 1 2/3 innings. Colter Joyce came out of the bullpen and induced a groundout to end the second with the bases loaded.

“It wasn’t his best night,” said Bucks head coach Mitch Messer of Schmidt. “He just didn’t have it tonight.”

Schmidt took the loss, giving up five runs on seven hits and two walks. Heading into the game Schmidt was 12-3 with a 2.97 ERA.

In the fourth inning, Joyce allowed a leadoff single and hit-batsman before Zack Anderson hit a three-run homer to left to give the Gems a commanding 9-0 lead.

The Gems did a good job of setting the table, putting the first two batters on base in each of the first five innings. The Gems ended up scoring runs in the each of the first four frames.

“Boise’s an excellent hitting ball club,” Messer said. “They were aggressive at the plate all night and they made us pay.”

At the plate, the Bucks didn’t fare much better. Through the first five innings, they managed only five hits and left eight men on base.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Bucks made things interesting as they finally got their bats going. Will Spears started the inning off, getting hit by a pitch. He scored two batters later when Kyle Britt hit a single to left to give the Bucks their first run of the game to make it 10-1.

Jeff Squire walked on four straight pitches to load the bases for Ryan Minkoff, who also headed down to first on four straight balls for an RBI. Things got interesting after Britt scored on an error to make it 10-3 with no outs and the bases loaded for Caleb Schlender.

The hardcore Bucks fans that were still in attendance n most of them wrapped in blankets or wearing coats n went wild in hopes of a Bozeman comeback. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed when Schlender grounded into a double play that scored a run, but greatly damaged their chances of a rally.

The Bucks got another run in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Minkoff to close the gap to 10-5, but Schlender grounded into another inning-ending double play. Schlender, who leads the Bucks with a .441 average, has grounded into four double plays in the tournament.

The Gems exploded for six more runs in the top of ninth, including a three-run homer by Luke Miller, to kill any chances of a Bozeman comeback. It was the third homer of the night for the Gems.

“With the crowd and everything, we weren’t taking anything lightly,” said Boise head coach Larry Price. “We didn’t want them to comeback.”

Miller went 4-for-6 with three runs scored as the Gems pounded out 19 hits. Six Boise batters had multiple hit games.

Chris Kerns got the win for the Gems going eight innings, giving up only two earned runs on eight hits while striking out eight.

The Bucks play the Merced (Calif.) Volunteers at 4 p.m. today. The Volunteers beat the Billings Scarlets 7-6 Friday on a walk-off hit, to end the Scarlets season.

The Gems play the Medford Mustangs at 7 p.m. The Mustangs beat the Gillette (Wyo.) Rougriders 10-3 on Friday. The Gems and Mustangs are the only teams left in the tournament that have not lost a game.

Day 2 highlights

DANIEL BENSON, Merced, Calif.: Hit a left field home run to start his team’s scoring in the third inning against the Billings Scarlets.

JASON JONES, Kennewick, Wash.: Earned five stirkeouts and the win pitching five innings against the Chugiak Mustangs.

OGAN ODOM, Medford Ore.: Batted 5-for-5 against the Gillette Roughriders.

Boise, ID. 16, Bozeman5

Boise 321 301 006 n 16 19 3

Bozeman 000 004 010 n 5 8 3

Chris Kerns, Sam Richter (9) and Nick Jorgenson. Chris Schmidt, Colter Joyce (2), Justin Abbott (4), Anthony Rinard (8) and Ryan Minkoff.

Boise (41-4) n Jon Salas 3-6, Sam Richter 2-4, Braden Tullis 2-5, Nick Jorgenson 3-5, AJ Work 1-3, Zack Anderson 2-5, Andrew Shoemaker 1-5, Luke Miller 4-6, Tyler Knight 1-4, Jeff Kean 0-1.

Bozeman (53-21) n Ryan Minkoff 1-4, Brenda Phillips 2-5, Caleb Schlender 1-5, Sean Potkay 1-4, Matt Comer 0-4, Will Spears 0-3, Anthony Rinard 2-3, Kyle Britt 1-4, Ben Leister 0-1, Jeff Squire 0-1.

2B n Work, Rinard. HR n Richter, Anderson, Miller.

Merced, CA. 7, Billings 6

Billings 200 021 001 n 6 7 3

Merced 003 010 102 n 7 11 3

Ty Gilmore, Tyler Tabbert (1) and M. Tevlin. Dylan Floro, Tynan Pedretti (3), Nick Bernardi (7) and Joe Medeiros.

Billings (51-15) n Jordy Heringer 3-5, Aleksei Grosulak 1-2, Joel Reitz 0-3, Alex Bushman 0-4, M. Tevlin 2-5, Jordan Roberts 0-3, Jesse Finley 0-4, Tyson Shriver 1-3, E. Nell 0-2.

2B n Shriver. 3B n Grosulak.

Merced (25-14) n Marco Ledesma 0-5, Joe Medeiros 4-5, Joe Buckley 0-4, Art Corona 2-5, Brett Mooneyham 0-4, Justin Koehler 1-3, Dylan Floro 2-4, Daniel Benson 1-3, Brock Pisacco 1-4.

2B n Corona, Medeiros (2).

Kennewick, WA 18, Chugiak, AK 3

Kennewick 032 280 3 n 18 16 2

Chugiak 120 000 0 n 3 7 5

Jason Jones, Jeremy Barwick (6), Eric Yardley (7) and Max Garrett. Tim McCollum, Casey Spink (2), Matt Sullivan (3), Jacob Brownlee (4), Tyler Belk (4), Zach Morse (5) and Garrett Balen.

Kennewick (43-18) n Jamison Rowe 1-5, Marcelino Morales 1-4, Max Garrett 2-4, Josh Rapacz 1-1, Brett Jacobs 3-5, Devan Willis 2-3, Kevin Lathim 1-4, Brittan Hammer 0-2, Houston Castillo 3-5.

2B n Lathim, Willis, Jacobs.

Chugiak (28-9) n Zach Morse 2-4, Derek Henry 0-2, Matt Sullivan 0-2, Ty Griffith 1-4, Brad Stearns 0-1, Garrett Balen 1-3, Avery Beck 0-1, Zack Stark 0-3, Jesse Oakes 2-3, Tim McCollum 0-1.

Medford, OR 10, Gillette, WY 3

Gillette 000 000 012 n 3 7 4

Medford 150 100 21x n 10 16 0

Nate Kolata, Mick Peters (3), Seth Means, (7), Dalton Cowen (8) and Garrett Jackson and Jared Wass. Sam Gaviglio, Jared Smith (9) and Charlie Sebrell.

Gillette (51-10) n Seth Means 2-4, Austin Cowen 0-3, Ryan Hutchinson 1-4, Jared Wass 1-4, Bubba Hamilton 1-3, R. Lliff 1-3, Kyle Rhoades 1-1, Garrett Jackson 0-4, Dalton Cowen 0-3, Mick Peters 0-3.

2B n Hamilton.

Medford (46-8) n Dustin Smith 1-4, Kory Locken 2-3, Griffin Boyd 0-5, Logan Odom 5-5, Jordan Bostwick 0-1, Trent Smith 0-1, Jared Smith 2-4, Charlie Sebrell 3-4, Zach Earle 1-5, Kody Stevens 1-4.

2B n Jared Smith, Odom, Dustin Smith.

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