Sluggers 18U 3-1 at Missoula Mavs Memorial tourney

MISSOULA — Drew Queen had three hits and three runs batted in, Rowan Burow scored three times from the eight-hole and the Kalispell Sluggers 18U beat Missoula 13-9 Saturday night, at the Missoula Mavericks Memorial Tournament.

Reyd Hobart had three hits and two RBIs as the Sluggers (8-4) improved to 3-1 in the tournament. They have a final pool play game at 11 a.m. Sunday against the Walla Walla Bruins. A win might put them into the 4:30 p.m. championship at Lindborg-Cregg Field. 

The Sluggers started the tournament with a 13-6 win over the West Plains Cannons on Thursday, before they fell 9-4 to the Great Falls Chargers. On Friday they handled the Spokane Bandits AAA 21-3 behind Jett Pitts’ seven RBIs. 

The Mavericks and Chargers are also 3-1 heading into Sunday. Missoula beat Great Falls 9-4 on Thursday. All three 3-1 teams face teams that are 1-3 in the tournament. 

Sluggers 13, Mavericks 9 

Queen and Burow hit two-run singles during a five-run sixth inning that put the Sluggers up 12-4.  

The runs were important because the host Mavs came back with five runs in their half, bunching six singles around a hit by pitch. Cullen Wallace had just taken over for starter Jett Pitts on the mound, and he also gave up a sacrifice fly and RBI single as the gap closed to 12-9. 

Wallace worked around a single and a walk in a scoreless seventh. 

Nico Young had three hits and scored twice for Kalispell; Kaeden Kahler had two hits, including an RBI single in the seventh. Burow tripled and scored in the fifth inning. Queen added a double. 

Kaden Thennis had three hits for the Mavs (9-4), who had none of their 12 safeties go for extra bases.  

Sluggers 21, Bandits 3 

Queen, Pitts and Finn Ryan all hit triples in this one, with Queen’s three-run shot to left capping the scoring in the fifth inning. 

Burow threw three innings of one-hit ball, striking out five. Tate Kahler finished the final two innings in the run-ruled game. 

Tyce Van Orden roped a double. Pitts had three hits and he, Young and Van Orden all scored three times. Carson Bramme drove in three runs for the Sluggers. 

Chargers 9, Sluggers 4 

Kalispell turned a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning, only to see Great Falls rally with three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. 

Bramme’s two-run single gave the Sluggers that lead; Cole Pace’s two-run double put the Chargers back in front for good, 5-4. 

Young tripled among his two hits; Kaeden Kahler and Queen drove in runs.   

Deuce Nichols went six innings on the mound for Great Falls and Beau Carnes pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. 

Sluggers 13, Cannons 6 

Pitts had a huge game, with an RBI grounder in the first inning, a two-run single in the second, an RBI single in the fourth and a three-run triple in the fifth. It was his fourth-inning single that put the Sluggers up for good, 6-5. 

Young tripled and scored in the first and hit a two-run double in the second for the Sluggers. Queen hit an RBI triple in the fifth. 

Van Orden had two hits and scored twice; Young had two hits and scored three times. Ninth hitter Logan Cuffe crossed the plate twice. Wallce backed up Young on the mound with 2 1-3 innings of spotless relief.