Mustangs win one of three at Regionals

It was a mixed bag for the Lovell Mustangs at the team’s first regional tournament as they went 1-2 in the talented bracket of the American Legion Class A Northwest Regional Tournament in Burley, Idaho.

Lovell played one of their best games of the season in the first round as the Mustangs beat host team Burley 6-2 on Thursday night, but they struggled in the second round Friday afternoon, falling to Bitterroot, Montana, 22-4. Facing elimination, the Mustangs fought hard against Cache Valley, Utah, Saturday afternoon but eventually fell 16-9.

Games aside, the opportunity to represent north Big Horn County and Wyoming Legion Baseball was a tremendous experience, manager Michael Jameson said.

“They make you feel pretty important with the banquet and opening ceremonies and stuff like that,” Jameson said of the tournament organizers. “And so it was really a neat experience. It was kind of cool at the hotel. They had little gift bags for all the boys and things like that. And so it was definitely a pretty neat experience. And I think those boys enjoyed it, something they’ll never forget.”

Burley

The Mustangs were sharp before a large host crowd in Burley Thursday night, outhitting the hometown Green Sox 9-6 and making only one error behind pitchers Lafe Files, Rocco Rael and Tucker Jackson.

“It was a packed house,” Jameson said. “I heard them say from the announcer’s booth that it was a record crowd. There wasn’t an empty seat in the whole stadium. It was just an awesome atmosphere with the sunset, just one of those picturesque things that you dream about or you see pictures of, and it was just amazing, the energy and the excitement and just high quality baseball.

“We were able to come out and get a win that first night. I think that was a pretty special event, getting the first regional win and having just one error in the game. Defensively, we were very solid, and then we came up with some key hits. We were facing, obviously, some pretty high-quality pitching. I think the two pitchers we faced were a combined 17-0 this season. We were facing some top notch competition.”

Lovell took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Cash Wassmer singled, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Alex Hedges. Burley plated two runs in the top of the third to lead 2-1, but Files walked and scored on a triple by Wassmer in the bottom of the frame, knotting the score 2-2.

Rael took the mound in relief of Files in the top of the fourth and threw 2 2/3 innings of shutout baseball until Jackson relieved with two outs in the sixth, retiring four of the five batters he faced to pick up the save for winning pitcher Rael.

Meanwhile, the Mustangs took the lead with one run in the fifth and added three insurance runs in the sixth, aided by a pair of Burley errors, one in each inning.

Wassmer finished the game 3-4 with a triple, a run scored and two RBIs. Kyle Wilson went 2-3 with a run and a double, and Mac Morgan, Hedges, Owen Edwards (double) and Files one hit apiece. Hedges and Rael drove in one run apiece.

“Cash had a phenomenal tournament, coming up with the big hits,” Jameson said of Wassmer. “He’s just a kid that’s never, ever going to be afraid of the moment, no matter how big it is. And he’s always going to want to be the one at the plate or on the mound or wherever.”

Files was solid as the starting pitcher, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk in three innings of work, striking out four. Rael got the win with 2 2/3 innings of relief, allowing no runs on two hits and two walks while fanning one. Jackson picked up the save, allowing no runs in 1 1/3 innings with no hits or walks, fanning four.

“With how Lafe threw at the state tournament, we obviously had a lot of confidence going forward with him,” Jameson said. “And I can’t say enough about Rocco coming in. He’s a kid that’s really developed some good command on a split finger, kind of a knuckleball type pitch. He is able to throw that for strikes, and it’s been really effective, especially in the postseason. He had the shoulder issues early on, and so he’s been a little bit late developing for us as a pitcher. And in the postseason he came up huge for us.”

Bitterroot

As sharp as they were Thursday, the Mustangs were out of sorts in a late afternoon game against the Bitterroot Red Sox of Hamilton, Montana. Mustang pitchers simply could not get out of early innings as Bitterroot connected for 13 hits in four innings while Lovell fielders made nine errors. The combination led to 22 runs for the Montana club.

Asked about the change in performance from one day to the next, Jameson noted, “That’s a good question. It’s just one of those things that’s kind of hard to explain about baseball, and it’s what makes you love and hate the game at the same time. I mean, we’re talking less than 24 hours ago, and it’s both ends of the spectrum. We come up with a big win against the home team, and less than 24 hours later that was probably the worst baseball game we played all season long.

“It was so hard to explain. You think about things we could have done differently. And it was just one of those things where it felt like, from that first inning on, we just played bad baseball.”

Bitterroot scored six runs in the first inning, four in the second, six in the third and six more in the fourth. Lovell finally got on the scoreboard with a run in the fourth and added three more in the fifth before the game ended on the 10-run mercy rule.

 Lovell started OK as the first two batters reached base in the top of the first inning but didn’t end up crossing the plate. Bitterroot then plated six runs against Lovell starter Hedges and reliever Wilson in the bottom of the frame, aided by a hit batter, two walks, a passed ball and two errors.

Bitterroot scored four more in the second to lead 10-0, then blew the game open in the third thanks, in part, to five more errors. By that time, Jameson was replacing most starters with younger players, essentially clearing the bench, to give players a chance to experience Regionals and to take a load off the starters. The Mustangs finally found some offense in the fifth, including RBI singles by Hedges and Cove Jolley.

Hedges, Wilson, Dallin Bischoff and Aaiden Walker saw mound duty for the Mustangs, and 14 players saw action in the game.

“I’m happy with those guys going out and competing,” Jameson said of the players who came off the bench. “I told them, ‘This is a terrible situation to put you guys in.’ I’m proud of those guys for being willing to go out there and compete.”

Cache Valley

The Lovell-Cache Valley, Utah, score – a 16-9 Lovell loss – is misleading as the Mustangs battled from behind three times in the game, with one late inning inflating the final score.

The Cache Valley Wolverines led 1-0 after the first inning, but Lovell plated three runs in the bottom of the third to lead 3-1 as Wassmer (double), Jackson and Hedges drove in one run each.

Kannon Owens relieved Jackson in the fourth, and Cache Valley scored three in the fourth and one in the fifth to lead 5-3. Two of the runs in the fourth came home on a two-out error.

Lovell rallied for two in the bottom of the seventh to knot the score 5-5. The game went to the ninth, and Cache Valley scored two in the top of the inning to lead 7-5 before Hedges relieved to record the final two outs. The Mustangs had no quit in them, however, and tied the score with two runs in the bottom of the frame.

Wassmer reached on an error to begin the rally and scored on a double by Jackson. Hedges singled home Jackson to tie the score with no outs. After a walk to Wilson and a fielder’s choice, Lovell had runners at the corners with only one out, Hedges at third and Edwards at first. Owens lined a fly ball to right field for the second out, and although Hedges tagged up at third, ready to score the winning run, Edwards was running on the play and couldn’t get back to first, leading to a double play and the end of the inning.

Jameson said he has replayed that decision (to send the runner) in his mind several times, even lost sleep over it, but he was hoping to get Edwards to second to avoid a double play or force a throw to second that could have led to an error and the winning run.

The game was tied 7-7, but the Mustangs seemed to deflate, having lost the chance to win in the bottom of the inning. Cache Valley scored nine runs off Hedges in the top of the 10th inning to lead 16-7 before Rael got the final two outs. Lovell scored two in the bottom of the inning to make the final score 16-9.

“I can’t say enough about the grit and the determination and the heart that those guys showed,” Jameson said. “I mean, being down in extra innings twice and coming back and finding ways to score runs and tie the thing back up. There are, obviously, some things looking back now that could have changed that. And that’s just sometimes the way baseball goes.”

Lovell banged out 11 hits in the loss, three each of the bats of Wassmer and Jackson and two by Morgan and Files. Wassmer, Jackson and Hedges drove in two runs apiece.

The Mustangs finished the season with a 32-24 record.