Twins keep winning en route to state tournament

Down four runs to the Bitterroot Red Sox in the district tournament championship game, the Twins didn’t panic.

Instead, they got their bats going.

Glacier put up five runs in the fourth inning to take an 8-7 lead and never looked back from there, taking down the Sox 15-8 behind a massive 20-hit offensive performance.

Day Seymour homered for the Twins, and Ryan Veneman and Caleb Meehan combined for 9 for 10 at the plate.

The win puts the Twins in the driver’s seat for this week’s state tournament in Miles City. The tournament starts today and runs through Sunday.

Head coach Scott Murray said he and his team are feeling pretty good after their performance in districts.

Seeing how his team was able to rally against the Red Sox was a good indicator of their mindset for the postseason.

“We played really solid,” he said. “Boy, the team just didn’t give up. They knew we could hit the ball, they knew we had time, and we just played superior baseball.”

Murray attributes the maturity of his team to pull through when things look less than ideal to his senior leadership.

“I think it has a lot to do with our seven seniors. They believe in themselves, and they just bring everybody up to their level. They never quit, you never hear anything discouraging in the dugout. They’re just positive guys,” he said.

Early in the tournament the Twins beat down on the Libby Loggers 13-3.

It didn’t take long for Glacier to get hot, as they outscored the Loggers 10-1 in the first three innings alone.

Coby Clark-Dickenson doubled, homered and drove in four runs for his team. Tom Hellwig, 4 for 4, Clark-Dickenson, 3 for 4, and Terek Bistodeau, 3 for 3, all added to Glacier’s explosive offense.

Zach Veneman got the win after striking out four in his four innings pitched.

The Twins pitched a pair of shutouts en route to the championship game, taking down the Mission Valley Mariners 9-0 and the Red Sox 4-0 prior to the title game.

Nathan Hader struck out one and gave up two hits against the Mariners. In the first matchup with the Red Sox, Clark-Dickenson dropped six batters and gave up just three hits.

Murray said the plan isn’t to change anything going into the state tournament.

Instead, the best thing they can do is keep on with what’s got them to the tournament in the first place.

The Twins will open the tournament against the Tri City Cardinals this morning at 10.

“We just need to continue to play baseball like we have been for the last month. We like where we’re at. We haven’t seen a lot of those eastern and northern teams,” he said. “We haven’t seen them, but really if we play our game, I really feel like the only people that can beat the Glacier Twins are the Glacier Twins. If we play good ball, we’re going to be OK.”

Libby Loggers 010 11 — 3 6 3

Glacier Twins 325 03 — 13 17 2

WP—Zach Veneman; LP—Shayne Walker.

2B— Seymour, R. Veneman, Clark-Dickenson; 3B—Hellwig, Bistodeau; HR—Clark-Dickenson; RBIs—R. Veneman (2), Clark-Dickenson (4), Bistodeau (2), Schwaiger, Hellwig, Kobelt, Seymour.

Mission Valley 000 000 0 — 0 2 1

Glacier Twins 013 410 x — 9 11 2

GLACIER TWINS — Caleb Meehan 2-3, Ryan Veneman 2-4, , Coby Clark-Dickenson 1-3, Terek Bistodeau 1-3, Jack Schwaiger 0-2, Tom Hellwig 1-3, Forrest Kobelt 1-3, Dan Seymour 2-2, Quintin Schriver 1-3.

2B—Hellwig, Schriver, Veneman; HRs—Veneman, Clark-Dickenson; RBIs—Meehan, Veneman, Clark-Dickenson (3), Hellwig, Kobelt, Schriver.

Bitterroot Red Sox 000 000 0 — 0 3 2

Glacier Twins 000 301 x — 4 8 2

WP—Coby Clark-Dickenson; LP—Bowman.

GLACIER TWINS — Caleb Meehan 1-4, Ryan Veneman 1-2, Clark-Dickenson 2-3, Terek Bistodeau 0-3, Jack Schwaiger 0-2, Tom Hellwig 2-3, Matt Morrison 0-1, Dan Seymour 1-3, Quintin Schriver 1-3.

2B—Hellwig, Schriver, Veneman; HR—Seymour; RBIs—Seymour (2), Schriver.

Bitterroot Red Sox 106 100 0 — 8 83

Glacier Twins 003 543 x — 15201

WP — Ryan Veneman. LP — Brown.

Glacier — Caleb Meehan 5-5, Ryan Veneman 4-5, Coby Clark-Dickenson 1-3, Terek Bistodeau 0-4, Jack Schwaiger 3-4, Tom Hellwig 1-4, Matt Morrison 2-3, Dan Seymour 3-4, Quintin Schriver 1-4. 2B — Meehan, Morrison 2, Veneman. HR — Seynour. RBI — Veneman 3, Clark-Dickenson 2,Schwaiger 2, Hellwig 1, Seymour 2, Schriver 1.