After much speculation if the baseball season could even begin before spring break, the Whitefish baseball team was able to not only play its first game but also came away with the W.

Here in Whitefish, the snow is still melting and the Bulldogs have not been able to practice outdoors on a full field yet. That limitation didn’t seem to matter when Whitefish beat the Blue Devils 14-3 on Thursday in Corvallis.

Whitefish was first on the board with three runs in the second inning. In the top of the fourth, the Bulldogs added five more runs to go up 8-0; Corvallis notched one run in the bottom of the inning. The Bulldogs didn’t let up, scoring six more times in the fifth inning. The Blue Devils only responded with two runs, which ended the game after five innings.

Whitefish senior Ty Schwaiger started on the mound for the Bulldogs. He played two innings, allowing no hits or runs while striking out five. Jacob Polumbus came in as relief for just over one inning and Logan Kunz and Josiah Ruther also pitched in the game.

Whitefish had eight hits in the game, led by multiple hits from Jake McIntyre and Kunz. In the fifth inning, which gave the Bulldogs a commanding 14-1 lead, Fisher Fair, Fynn Ridgeway, Christian Schwaderer and Ruther fueled the inning with RBIs.

This was the first game of the inaugural Whitefish High School baseball season after the Montana High School Association added baseball as a sport this year. Whitefish School District chose to adopt baseball as a sanctioned high school sport last May.

Whitefish is off this week for the school’s spring break and is scheduled to play next on Thursday, April 6 in Columbia Falls. Varsity game time is 6 p.m.