Whitefish rolls into baseball final, will face Polson

Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell, Mont.
·4 min read

May 20—BUTTE — Logan Kunz doubled, drove in four runs and scored twice Friday, and pitcher Ty Schwaiger shook off a tough inning as Whitefish beat Hamilton 14-3 in the semifinals of the State baseball tournament.

The Bulldogs, 16-2, will face Polson for the state championship Saturday at 1 p.m., at 3 Legends Stadium. They met once during the regular season, with Polson winning 8-5.

The Pirates edged Florence 5-4 in Friday's first semifinal.

Schwaiger gave up three hits and three walks while striking out seven in five innings. Many of the baserunners came in Hamilton's 3-run second inning.

"Ty did his thing for us today, and shut down Hamilton outside of a few infield hits and defensive mistakes," Whitefish coach Kyler Blades said. "Our offense felt like it was an accumulation of all we had worked on all year, and especially the past few weeks."

Ahead 5-3, the Bulldogs scored eight runs in the third and ended the game in five innings under the mercy rule.

"Fynn (Ridgeway) got us going with a big double," Blades said. "Josiah Ruther had doubles in back-to-back plate appearances — we're pretty lucky to have a guy that can hit the ball like that toward the bottom of our lineup."

Kunz, Ruther and Christian Schwaderer hit 7-8-9 in the Whitefish order; Kunz scored three runs. Jake McIntyre, Clayton Godsey and Ridgeway scored twice.

In loser-out action, Butte topped Eureka 6-2 and Belgrade ousted Frenchtown 11-1.

Late Friday Butte eliminated Hamilton 3-1 and Belgrade beat Florence by the same score. The Bulldogs and Panthers will play for third place Saturday at 10 a.m.

Whitefish 058 10 — 14 11 2

Hamilton 030 00 — 3 3 3

Ty Schwaiger and Fynn Ridgeway. J Jessop, E McNair (2), C Lawrence (3), T O'Connell (3) and A Southwell, Jessop (2).

WHITEFISH — Jacob Polumbus 1-3, Maddox Muller 2-4, Jake McIntyre 0-2, Schwaiger 1-3, Clayton Godsey 2-4, Ridgeway 1-3, Logan Kunz 2-3, Josiah Ruther 2-2, Fisher Fair 0-1, Christian Schwaderer 0-3, Michael Miller 0-0, Brady Howke 0-0.

HAMILTON — A Ricklefs 0-3, C Ekin 0-3, E Widmre 1-3, J Westberry 0-2, V bos, 0-0, A Southwell 0-1, H Harness 0-0, Jessop 1-2, Demoss 1-2, T Nead 0-1, O'Connell 0-2.

2B — Kunz, Ruther 2, Ridgeway. RBIs — Kuntz 4, Schwager 2, Muller 2, Godsey, Ridgway, Ruther, Schwaderer, Ricklefs, Demoss, O'Connell.

Polson 5, Florence 4

Dawson DuMont had two hits and two runs batted in to back his own pitching, and Polson made a 5-1 lead hold up for the semifinal win.

The Pirates went ahead for good, 2-1, when Espn Fisher drew a bases-loaded walk in the second inning. DuMont and Cody Haggard hit RBI singles in the fourth inning to give Polson its fourth and fifth runs.

Jarrett Wilson had three hits and scored twice for the Pirates. DuMont threw six innings, scattering seven hits and three walks. He fanned nine.

Florence 100 002 1 — 4 8 2

Polson 111 200 x — 5 9 2

T Oster, C Fray-Parmantier and J Roth. Dawson DuMont, C Graham (7) and Espn Fisher.

FLORENCE — B Hinsdale 2-3, Patrick Duchien 1-4, Roth 2-3, G Philbrick 0-4, D Wagner 0-2, M Arlington 0-3, Isaac Bates 1-1, I Testerman 0-1, C Wagner 1-1, T Abbott 1-2, Ooster 0-1, Fray-Parmentier 0-1, L Winters 0-1.

POLSON — Jarrett Wilson 3-4, Fisher 1-2, DuMont 2-3, Cody Haggard 1-4, H Emerson 1-4, Aiden Gfroerer 0-2, Z Muzquiz 0-2, Cymian Kauley 0-2, Landon Shoemake 0-2.

2B — Rother, Duchien. RBIs — Duchien, Wagner, Abbott. Dumont 2, Fisher, Haggard.

Butte 6, Eureka 2

Eureka managed just three hits, though the Lions worked Butte's starting pitcher, Trey Hanson, for five walks and a run in under two innings.

Gavin Trudgeon came on for Butte and allowed just one more run, while the Bulldog offense — helped by 10 walks issued by Eureka pitching — pulled away.

Zach Tierney drove in two runs for Butte. Tristan Butts scored both of the Lions' runs.

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Eureka 101 000 0 — 2 3 1

Butte 011 022 x — 6 6 0

Tristan Butts, AJ Truman (2), Rowen Burrow (5), Cole Hurst (6) and Hurst, Butts (6). Trey Hansen, Gavin Trudgeon (2) and Tyler Duffy, Mason Armstrong.

EUREKA — Rogan Lytle 1-4, Hurst 0-3, Butts 1-2, Hall 0-2, Truman 0-3, Burow 0-2, Tyson Brouillette 1-3, Emmet McKim 0-2, Ramsey Stalcup-Waits 0-2.

BUTTE — Sean Ossello 0-1, Kevin Donaldson 0-2, Anthony Knott 2-3, Cayde Stajcar 1-4, Zach Tierney 2-3, Ethan Cunningham 0-3, Alex Jorgenson 0-2, Duffy 0-1, Quinn Cox 0-0, Armston 0-0, Derek Dunmire 1-1.

2B — Lytle, Stajcar. RBIs — Hall, Tierney 2, Ossello, Cunningham, Dunmire.