POLSON — The Mission Valley Mariners belted enough runs to win three of four this weekend, sweeping Kalispell 12-0 and 21-7 on the road on Saturday, before turning around to split opening home games against  non-conference foe Bitterroot Bucs.

The Mariners took the first home contest 12-8 after Polson’s Derrick Rathe blasted a monster grand slam to give his team the go-ahead in the bottom of the eighth.

In the second game, the Bucs got the better of the Mariners with a 10-8 victory.

Rathe began building for that grand slam with superb play in the first game at Kalispell, when he hit a 2-run homer and three RBIs. His timing with his first big shot of the weekend was impeccable.

With two outs, and his team up five already, his deep left-center homer sent two Mariners across the plate and stretched a lead to seven.

“It more or less finished things off early that way and set the tone for afterward,” Mariners coach Jami Hanson said.

The Mariners pitching was also solid. Polson’s Spence Trawick got his second win, throwing four strikeouts over five innings at the mound. 

“That was very good for him because sometimes we let go of a big lead. He didn’t do that. He stayed focused,” Hanson said.

Josh Rustad finished things off from the mound in the final inning, securing the five inning win by mercy. 

“He threw really well,” Hanson said.

Tyler Linse went 2-3 with an RBI in the first game.

The Mariners went on to crush Kalispell by 14 runs in the second contest. The team carried the momentum from the first game right into the second when it scored nine runs in the first inning.

Tim Rausch was 4-4 with a pair of RBIs. Cole McCarthur went 2-2 and Rustad batted 1-1.

At home, the Mariners started a little slow, giving up a four point lead to the Bucs by the end of the fourth. But by the seventh things were tied.

Things came down to the bottom of the eighth. After Kaileb Gillingham, Linse and Rausch earned their spots on the bases, Rathe came up to bat.

Ahead in the count 3-0, Rathe finally took a strike. The next one found all bat.

“He just totally smashed it,” Hanson said. “There was no doubt about that ball.”

Hanson said the late game rally showed character in his players.

“The kids believed and came back to tie a game that could have been 8-5. That showed a lot of heart. That’s the character of Mariner baseball. We’re not done until the last pitch is thrown.”

The win went to pitcher Westyn Kiehn. Rustad and Justin Evertz through a few innings in the win as well. 

The Mariners had their chances late in the second game, but couldn’t overcome the 2-run hole they fell into when the Bucs notched six in the last two innings.

The Mariners host Kalispell for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Sunday.