It was a short opening weekend for the Lake County baseball teams, with just two games being played across all three teams.

Even with two losses and one win to start the year, each team is figuring out how to rally early before getting too deep into the season. Let’s see how Polson and Ronan did to open up the high school baseball season.

Belgrade Baseball 11, Polson Baseball 9

The Pirates faced off against a formidable opponent for their season opener as they took on Class AA team and All-Class State Tournament runner-up Belgrade on March 27.

It looked like it was going to be a tough one early with Belgrade notching three runs in the top of the second inning to outpace Polson’s one run in the bottom of the second.

The Panther bats cooled down in the third inning as the Pirates lit up the scoreboard. Five total runs helped Polson take a commanding 6-3 lead going into the fourth inning. That included a deep home run from senior Holden Emerson.

Polson kept it scoreless during all of the fifth inning but Belgrade started to rally. They scored three runs in the fifth inning and four runs in the sixth as the Pirates found no help from their batters in either inning.

After going scoreless, it was all down to the seventh as the Panthers led 11-6 after nabbing one more run in the top of the seventh. Polson got on the board for the first time since the third inning, fighting their way back into this one.

Despite three runs to close the game out, Polson couldn’t find a way back in and lost 11-9.

Liam Jackson earned two runs to lead the Pirates, with Emerson being the only home run Polson had. Emerson also had two RBIs alongside his homer, tying teammate Noah Agliano for the most RBIs amongst all Pirates.

Polson Baseball 4, Eureka Baseball 0

It was redemption on March 28 as Polson took their first win of the year against Eureka.

Polson looked for a big win over the Lions and they got it with a defensive showing. Polson and Eureka were in a slog with both teams struggling to put runs on the board for the first four innings.

The combination of Cole Wadsworth and Cody Haggard on the mound helped put Polson in a position to keep Eureka at bay.

That pitching combination helped set up a huge fifth inning where Jackson did what he was unable to do the day prior and put some runs on the board. Three runs later and the Pirates never looked back.

Polson won with an extra run to add to the tally with a 4-0 final score.

Stevensville Baseball 10, Ronan Baseball 0

It was a disparate result farther south when Ronan traveled on March 27 to take on Stevensville.

Ronan was looking to start this season strong against a fellow Class A school but the team struggled from the first inning.

The Yellowjackets went up 4-0 in the first, never trailing from there. The Warriors couldn’t find any breaks as they allowed at least one run each inning the entire time.

With only one hit to their name, Ronan fell behind too much and dropped their season opener on the road 10-0 in five innings.

Ronan’s only hit came from Ben Mitchell, who also pitched three innings that game, where he allowed eight runs on 10 hits. Despite that, he was a multitool for the Chiefs as they look to rebound from their opening day loss this week.

    Polson pitcher Cole Wadsworth turns and starts to run off the mound to the first base path against Belgrade on March 27 at O'Malley Park. (Max Dupras/Leader)