Mariners get another come-from-behind win

They might be down, but never count them out.

The Mission Valley Mariners beat the AA Kalispell Lakers in 10 innings last Wednesday in yet another come-from-behind win, going 1-1 on the week after falling to the AA Missoula Mavs last Thursday.

Brandon Roy got the win for the Mariners, after taking the mound in the sixth inning in relief, improving to 5-1 on the year. He also hit the go-ahead run in the 10th inning with an RBI single to give the team the lead before Robert Wallace hit an RBI double for an insurance run.

It was Wallace's second double of the evening.

Both teams' offense came alive later in the game, with Kalispell picking up five runs in the bottom of the sixth, but the Mariners came back, scoring three in the ninth to tie it before Roy shut down the Lakers' offense in the 10th to ensure the win.

"That was a big win for us, with a full squad, especially after the Wood Bat tourney [the prior weekend]," said head coach Jami Hanson.

"The kids came out and played a good game."

Hanson said Roy was able to jump in and salvage the situation after they got into some pitching trouble in the middle innings. One of the Mariners' strengths this season is the fact that they have a huge stable of pitchers they can go to at anytime, Hanson noted.

"When everyone is there we have a lot of depth. If we get into trouble early with our pitching, we can go to other guys. We can also keep the pitch count down," Hanson noted.

Jake Bosley went 2-for-5 at the plate, Tim Rausch was 1-for-1, Chris Brown was 2-for-3, John Rausch was 1-for-2, Roy was 1-for-3, Wallace was 2-for-4 and Jake Whetzel was 1-for-4.

"Brandon finished things off for us and did a good job, and Robert Wallace doubled in to bring in the runs we needed before Brandon shut them down in the 10th," Hanson said.

The team traveled to Missoula to face the AA Mavericks last week as well, in what Hanson said was a bad outing for the team.

"We had a ceremonial burning of the score card after the game. It was that bad," he said.

The team traveled to Whitefish to face the Glacier Twins Friday but were rained out. They were supposed to play the Bitterroot Red Sox down south on Sunday, but that was postponed at the request of the Red Sox due to graduation ceremonies taking place.

The team traveled to Kalispell for two conference games Tuesday night but results were unavailable by presstime. Thursday, the team will host the Lakers AA squad for one 9-inning game, starting at 5 p.m. This will be the only home game for the month of June until a June 28 contest against the Bitterroot Bucs.

The annual Firecracker tournament will kick off on Friday June 30th.