Glacier takes two from Bandits

The Glacier Twins have new uniforms, a new backstop, and on Saturday, they showed off their new attitude on the baseball diamond.

The AA Legion baseball squad picked up their first wins of the season over the visiting Belgrade Bandits in a twinbill at Memorial Stadium. Cody Elek knocked a game-winning 2-RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to give the Twins the first game 4-3. Later, Zach Maassen pitched six scoreless innings in an 8-1 romp to cap off the series sweep.

"It's good for the kids to not give up," Twins coach Lindsay Fansler said about the game 1 comeback. "To score two runs with two outs, it shows tenacity and that they believe they can win."

He said that while the program is rebuilding, they wanted to show the home crowd that the Twins can be competitive — and even good — on any given day.

"Consistency is a big goal of ours," the first-year coach said. "We want to play the game the right way, and to hustle and to be in the game. We found a way to win, and a lot of these kids haven't had that feeling of being in a winning program."

After falling behind 0-1 early in the opener, Dustin VonFeldt ignited the Twins' offense when he crushed a deep solo homer to left to tie up the score.

The Bandits threatened in the fifth with a runner on second, but pitcher Trevor Miller snagged a line drive at the mound and instinctively turned to Kyler Blades at second to pick off the runner for a double play.

In the top of the sixth, Belgrade's Jose Eudave cracked a 2-RBI single to put the Bandits back on top, 1-3. Miller found a way to pitch out of the jam, tossing two strikeouts to end the inning.

Elek hit a stand-up double off the top of the wall in center field in the bottom of the sixth to start a rally for Glacier. The hit looked to be out of the park as it left the bat, and Elek started into a trot before realizing it was a few inches short of clearing the fence. No harm done though, as Maassen pushed Elek home with an RBI-single.

Eudave ended the Twins' comeback when he ran full speed into foul territory to make a diving catch before smashing headfirst into the chain link fencing near third base. He held onto the ball and was OK after the play.

Miller tossed two more strikeouts in the seventh to keep Glacier within reach going into the bottom of the seventh. He finished with nine Ks in the game and allowed just six hits.

Before taking the field for their final at-bat, Fransler told the team to "dig deep" and find a way to walk off the field as winners — a sentiment each player seemed to take to heart as they stepped to the plate.

The two-out rally started with Blades hitting a single to center field. Wade Martinson then knocked a hard drive to third base that ricocheted off Eudave's face and fell out of reach before he could make a play.

With Blades at second and Martinson at first, Elek stepped in and dropped a double to left field, easily scoring both runners for the win.

"It's good for Cody to come through like that for us," Fransler said. "He's a team leader and a returning player. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be a leader, and the hit does wonders for his confidence and the team's confidence."

In the nightcap, Glacier scored in six of seven innings and tallied eight hits in the 8-1 win — but it was Maassen's work on the mound that sealed the win.

Maassen struck out five batters and gave up seven hits in his longest outing of the season.

"He threw a great game," Fransler said. "We're going to need him to step up and be a starter. It's great for him to show the willingness to go the distance."

Glacier tallied RBIs from Martinson, Blades, Talsma and Hill in the win.

The Twins (2-8 overall) host the Wood Bat Tournament today at Memorial Park.