Twins creep toward .500 mark

The Glacier Twins have been as good as any team in the region since Kyle Knox and Kyle Yogodzinski joined the pitching rotation earlier this month.

The AA Legion baseball squad has tallied nine wins since their 0-8 start, including five wins last week over Libby, Eureka and teams at the Canadian Days tourney. For a program that is looking to shake their reputation as being in perpetual rebuilding-mode, the duo of go-to aces has helped push the team in the right direction.

"The addition of Knox and Yogodzinski has been great," Twins coach Lindsay Fansler said. "They give us two arms that can go deep in games, which has really helped us in terms of putting a quality product on the field every day."

Their presence on the mound, along with emerging pitchers Zach Maassen and Cody Hill, was evident this weekend when the Twins won three of four games at the Canadian Days Tournament in Kalispell.

After a tough 4-0 loss to Calgary on Friday to open the tourney, the Twins knocked off Sherwood Park on Saturday 10-6 behind seven strong innings from Maassen.

On Sunday, Yogodinzski gave up just two earned runs as the Twins clipped the Trail Jays from British Columbia 5-4. Later in the day, Knox went wire-to-wire on the mound and led the Twins to a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Cardinals.

Wade Martinson was a 'spark plug" for the team at the plate, Fansler said, as he went 7-for-10 over the weekend.

"We're playing like a good ball club," Fansler said. "Anytime you have a program that hasn't won, it's an effort to teach them how to win.

"I thought going 3-1 in the tourney was great. Now we just have to keep it going. I feel like we're capable of playing with anybody."

While strong pitching was the story in the Canadian Days tourney, it was fierce offense that led the Twins against Eureka and Libby.

Against the Loggers, Kyler Blades had three RBIs on four hits, and Martinson added another three RBIs on two hits in a 15-5 win. Geoff Streeter chipped in with two RBIs after going 2-for-5 at the plate.

At Eureka, the Twins dismantled the Kootenai Valley Rangers, scoring 26 runs on 14 hits in the 26-10 rout. Streeter was 2-for-2 with five RBIs and tallied three walks. Blades, Dustin VonFeldt, Cody Hill and Kris Gross each added two hits.

Fansler attributed the hot hitting to the team's patience at the plate.

"No matter who's pitching, we take the same approach and are looking for good pitches to hit," he said.

Libby 000 005 0xx — 5 7 4

Glacier 053 124 xxx — 15 14 1

Adam Stapley, Dustin Morningstar (3), Wicka (4) and Josiah Coker. Kyle Knox, Cody Hill (4), Cody Elek, Wade Martinson (5) and Jeremy Nielsen. WP — Knox (four strikeouts, one walk); LP — Stapley

LOGGERS — Morningstar 2-3, Wicka 1-4, Chris Herbig 2-4, Coker 0-4, Micah Germany 1-4, Stapley 1-2, Tate Wilson 0-1, Clay Smith 0-1, Eric Riddle 0-3.

2B — Morningstar; 3B — Morningstar; RBI — Morningstar (2), Germany, Smith

TWINS — Nielsen 1-3, Martinson 2-5, Knox 0-3, Hill 0-1, Chris Gross 0-0, Elek 3-3, Dustin VonFeldt 1-5, Geoff Streeter 2-5, Trevor Miller 1-2, Kyle Yogidzinski 0-1, Carl Talsma 0-2, Kyler Blades 4-4.

2B — Elek, VonFeldt, Streeter, Blades; RBI — Nielsen, Martinson (3), Elek, Streeter (2), Miller, Talsma, Blades (3)