Spartans rally past, then hold off Braves

The Flathead Braves outhit Missoula Sentinel and brought the tying run to the plate twice in the seventh inning Tuesday, but the Spartans were able to hold on for a 6-4 AA baseball victory at ABS Park.

Stellan Ridley hit an RBI double and scored as Sentinel (3-5) made up a 2-0 deficit in the fifth inning; a two-out, two-base error and Ridley’s RBI single led to three runs and a 5-2 Sentinel lead in the sixth. 

Flathead (2-5) had gone up 1-0 on Miles Arrowsmith’s sacrifice fly in the second and 2-0 when Leum Saisbury doubled in the fourth and eventually came in on a balk. 

A sac fly gave Sentinel a 6-2 lead in the seventh and then Flathead rallied: Walks to Jacobe Sullenger and Wyatt Asher led to an RBI single from Dillon Wink.  

With runners on the corners, Liam Rech struck out and Hunter Fann followed with an RBI groundout to first. Ridley then fanned Eli Coopman to end it. 

Coopman started on the mound, going 4 2-3 innings and allowing one hit, seven walks and two unearned runs. He fanned seven. Flathead issued 10 walks overall. 

The Braves’ next game is Thursday against Missoula Hellgate, at Kelly Pine in Bonner. First pitch is 5 p.m. 

Sentinel    000    023    1    -    6    4    1 

Flathead    010    100    2    -    4    6    3 

Devin Leary, Paxson Onstot (7), Stellan Ridley (7) and Marek Hall. Eli Coopman, Liam Rech (5) and Leum Saisbury. 

MISSOULA SENTINEL — Ridley 2-3, Kaden Thennis 0-2, Hall 0-3, Keaton Elliot 0-2, Owen Dale 1-3, Josh Wood 1-3, Trevor Johnson 0-2, J Lodwig 0-4, Onstot 0-2. 

FLATHEAD — Dillon Wink 1-4, Rech 1-3, Hunter Fann 1-4, Coopman 0-4, Saisbury 1-3, Micah Engle 2-3, Miles Arrowsmith 0-3, Fischer Lee 0-2, Jacobe Sullenger 0-0, Wyatt Asher 0-1. 

2B — Ridley, Fann, Saisbury. RBIs — Ridley 2, Lodwig 2, Arrowsmith, Wink, Fann.