The Kalispell Lakers AA cruised into the postseason, sweeping Butte 3-0 and 11-1 in its final American Legion baseball home series at Griffin Field on Saturday.

Tiler Whiteaker excelled in a spot start for the injured Dawson Smith, nearly no-hitting the Miners in the opener, throwing 6 1/3 hitless innings before a sharp liner down the third-base line broke up the feat. He finished with one hit and two strikeouts in the complete game shutout.

At the plate, Whiteaker put the Lakers on the board early, leading off with a single in the first inning and scoring a run on a Andrew Schleusner double three batters later.

The Lakers scored two more in the second inning for what became an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Whiteaker allowed only four baserunners, pushing Kalispell to a drama-free victory.

In the nightcap, Whiteaker reached base on an error and scored on an overthrow from the Butte catcher to start off where the first ended.

Patrick O’Connell hit in Jake Halland later in the inning for a 2-0 lead, all the Lakers would need.

On the mound, Halland stayed out of trouble, giving up a single in the second and a run in the third inning, but leaned on ground balls and defense to keep the scoreboard clean.

“I thought both pitchers did a good job of pounding the bottom of the zone and making those guys put the ball in play,” Lakers AA coach Ryan Malmin said.

“We really limited our free passes and defensively we were clean for the most part all day. It was good to see, both from the pitching perspective and defensively.”

The Lakers exploded in the third inning, reaching their first four batters on singles when a Logan DeCock double cleared the bases for a 6-0 lead. They would score two more in the fourth with a double from Micah Benson and a triple from Halland leading off the inning. Halland would later score his third run of the game on a single from Spencer Pisk.

Leading 8-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, the Lakers led off with two straight hits and loaded the bases when Micah Benson took four pitches to earn an RBI walk. A sacrifice fly from Schleusner scored one more run before the game ended on two straight walks, Haydn Schlepp watching a 3-1 pitch go high to walk off with the win.

The Lakers picked up 13 hits in the nightcap, Pisk going 3 for 3 with three RBIs. Benson was 3 for 5 in the two games.

“Obviously we liked what we saw (at the plate) in Game 2,” Malmin said. “In Game 1, I felt like we had some good quality at-bats but it was just right at (their defense). Overall, it was a pretty good day hopefully to springboard us into the state tournament.”

The Lakers locked up the fourth seed in this week’s Class AA state tournament in Missoula and will play Helena when the tournament begins on Wednesday.

Game 1

Butte 000 000 0 — 0 1 0

Kalispell 120 000 x — 3 6 0

Tiler Whiteaker and Andrew Schleusner. Zach Hart and Nate LeProuse. W—Whiteaker. L—Hart.

BUTTE — Kash Kelly 0-3, Trey Hoagland 0-2, Nate LeProuse 0-3, Ryan Moodry 1-2, Dyllan Lane 0-3, Quin Summers 0-3, Ax Henningson 0-2, Trey Berger 0-2, Renzy Doherty 0-2.

KALISPELL — Tyler Whiteaker 1-3, Jake Halland 0-3, Patrick O’Connell 0-2, Andrew Schleusner 1-2, Leif Ericksen 0-3, Haydn Schlepp 1-3, Micah Benson 2-2, Joe Broughton 1-2, Jayson Combs 0-2.

2B—Schleusner. 3B—Benson. RBIs—Schleusner, Broughton.

Game 2

Butte 001 00 — 1 5 4

Kalispell 204 23 — 11 13 0

Nate LeProuse, Renzy Doherty (3), Koby Doherty (5) and Justin Summers. Jake Halland and Haydn Schlepp. W—Halland. L—LeProuse.

BUTTE — Kash Kelley 0-3, Trey Hoagland 2-3, Nate LeProuse 0-2, Ryan Moodry 1-2, Dyllan Lane 0-2, Zach Hart 1-1, Justin Summers 0-2, Logan Lafrombone 0-2, Renzy Doherty 1-2.

KALISPELL — Tiler Whiteaker 0-3, Micah Benson 1-3, Jake Halland 2-4, Patrick O’Connell 2-3, Andrew Schleusner 0-0, Spencer Pisk 3-3, Haydn Schlepp 1-2, Logan DeCock 1-3, Jonas Nyman 2-3, Jayson Combs 1-3.

2B—Hoagland. DeCock, Nyman, Benson. 3B—Halland. RBIs—Hoagland. Benson, Halland, O’Connell, Schleusner, Pisk 3, Sclepp, DeCock 2.