Twins split with Birds, Senators

With a mixed bag of A and AA players, the Glacier Twins took down the visiting Calgary Redbirds 10-6 on Saturday in the opening game of a Legion baseball doubleheader. The win marked the first time Glacier has topped Calgary in four tries this season.

Six starters were missing from the Twins roster due to high school graduations, but even with the short bench, the club managed to outscore a tough Calgary team by six runs in the final three frames.

"It was a good opportunity for some of the younger kids to come out and play," Twins coach Lindsay Fansler said. "It's good for them to show their stuff and help us get a victory."

The coach pointed to Devyn Rocker, Connor Donahue, Jake Rogers and Jim Jumper for stepping up to fill in the gaps when six of the team's eight graduating seniors were unavailable for the non-conference game.

Yet, the two graduates who made the game may have provided the biggest sparks.

Trevor Miller, a 2010 graduate of Columbia Falls, pitched five strong innings to get the win, and Zach Maassen, a 2010 graduate of Whitefish, knocked a pinch-hit RBI-double in the fifth to put the Twins in control 6-4.

"It was good to see those guys come through and contribute," Fansler said.

The Twins fell behind early in the outing when Calgary opened up a three-run lead with solid hitting from the top of their order.

But the Twins responded in the fourth when Kyle Yogodzinski sent a rocket down the right-field line for a 2-RBI, stand-up double to put the Twins on top 5-4.

In the fifth, Maassen hit an RBI-double to left, and Jeremy Nielsen followed with an RBI stand-up double to center. Later in the inning, Nielsen stole home plate on a wild pitch to open up a four-run lead.

The Twins capped off the rally in the sixth with three more runs.

In the nightcap, the Twins let a 3-1 lead slip away in the seventh inning. With two outs, the Redbirds hit a two-run single to tie the score and send the game into extra innings. After a scoreless eighth, Calgary put up seven unanswered runs to tally a 10-3 victory going home.

Fansler chalked the loss up to a long day on the baseball diamond.

"It was after 11 p.m., and I think the kids just got tired," he explained.

On Sunday at home against the Helena Senators, the Twins again opened with an impressive win against a team they had yet to beat.

Kyle Knox went 2-for-4, hit a homer and a double, and Yogodzinski pitched seven strong innings to lead the Twins to the 7-3 non-conference victory.

"Yogodzinski throws a lot of strikes and has the ability to work out of tough spots," Fansler said about the pitcher's performance Sunday. "He'll keep us in the ball game."

In the second game, Helena's Colter Sternhagen sent a grand slam out of Memorial park in the third inning, marking the difference on the scoreboard.

The Twins tallied solo homers from Carl Talsma and Zach Maassen in the 6-2 losing effort.

Fansler was happy with the team's performance over the weekend but said he would like to see more offensive consistency from the lineup.

"We really cut down on our strikeouts this weekend, and we need to continue to do that," he said. "That will go a long way for us."

Up next, the Twins host the red-hot Missoula Mavericks, who are riding a 23-game winning streak.

"Missoula is a tough ball club with a good deal of veterans," Fansler said. "They're as good as any Legion team as I've seen in a long time."

The coach said if the Twins can throw strikes and capitalize on Missoula's pitching, they have a chance to steal a win from the best team in the league.

"We know we can play with them, we just have to execute," he said.

The games are slated for Friday and Saturday at Memorial Park at 7 p.m.