School of ROCK

ST. IGNATIUS — The Mission Valley Rockies’ bats came alive as they registered three victories in two double headers over the weekend.

“The bats are coming alive,” manager Alan Anderson said. “At the beginning of the season we were inconsistent at the plate, but now we’re making contact with the ball and finding the gaps.”

ST. IGNATIUS — The Mission Valley Rockies’ bats came alive as they registered three victories in two double headers over the weekend.

“The bats are coming alive,” manager Alan Anderson said. “At the beginning of the season we were inconsistent at the plate, but now we’re making contact with the ball and finding the gaps.”

Mission Valley has won four of its last five games and picked up its first doubleheader sweep of the season over Florence on Saturday in St. Ignatius. The Rockies braved the wet and muddy conditions as the infield resembled a small swamp, and notched 11-3 and 17-16 victories.

“I think the team adjusted well to the conditions,” Anderson said. “We did have to scale back our aggresive baserunning because I didn’t want to get someone hurt.”

By the second game, the weather had cleared up and the sun actually came out, allowing the Rockies to attack the base paths.

“The boys wanted to get muddy and they were more aggressive toward the end,” Anderson said. “Some of them made the comment after the games that maybe we were a muddier type of team.”

One thing that wasn’t muddy in the first game was the Rockies offense. They collected 11 hits and downed Florence 11-3 and got a consistent pitching effort for Tanner Tammaro, Bransen Krebs and Ryan Turner in the game.

“I was pretty happy about the pitching in the game,” Anderson said. “I had all the young guys pitching.”

Florence took the early 2-0 lead in the first before Mission scored four in the bottom of the frame. They extended their lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the second before Florence answered with a run in the top of the fourth. Mission Valley got a flurry of runs in the sixth inning with Florence catching the error bug. The away team committed five errors, walked four and allowed six runs to the Rockies in the sixth inning for the 11-3 lead.

Turner struck out three of the last six batters in the game for Mission Valley and the Rockies took the first game of the twin bill.

Jeremiah Crawford, Ryan Anderson and Damian Mathis all had two hits in the game with a double and two RBIs. Anderson said he liked seeing his son Ryan and Damian bounce back from early-season struggles at the plate and do some serious damage with their bats this weekend.

Tammaro had a hit and an RBI in the game, while Brady Ovitt got a base hit and drove in two runs. In the second game, Mission Valley was able to come back from a big deficit and win 17-16 in extra innings. Krebs had a big game for the Rockies, going 4-for-6 with a double, triple and four RBIs.

“Bransen is really a good player,” Anderson said. “He’s kind of a timid guy but he’s coming out of his shell and opening up a lot more.”

Anderson added that the 15-year old Krebs is a student of the game and is constantly looking for ways to improve.

“He’s really seeing and hitting the ball well,” Anderson said. “And he’s not the only one. We have an extremely talented, young team.”

Mission Valley took the early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning but Florence tied in up in the top of the third. The Rockies added two more runs in the bottom of the third and led 4-2.

Then in the bottom of the fifth, it looked as if the wheels had fallen off for Mission Valley. Three errors, five walks and three hits led to an 11-run rally by Florence and it looked as if the game would be over with them trailing 13-4.

However, the Rockies scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth, and two more in the bottom of the sixth to make it 13-12.

Florence answered with a run in the top of the seventh, but the Rock Show gave the fans a dramatic two-run seventh thanks to a two-run single by Keith Woodward to tie it up 14-14 and force extra innings.

Florence scored two runs in the top of the eighth, but Mission Valley got three in the bottom of the frame for the walkoff win. Joey Anderson got a bases loaded walk to start the rally, a balk called by the umpire brought in another run and then Krebs delivered with a well-hit single in the gap to bring home the winning run.

“I was really proud of the way the guys hung with it,” Anderson said.

Woodward was 3-for-4 in the game with three RBIs, while Anderson was 3-for-5 and also drove in a run. Geiber, Crawford, Warren Wood, Turner and Joey Anderson also drove in a run.

“We had a rough weekend numbers-wise, we just had 10 kids playing because some players had some obligations,” Anderson said. “We had some key players gone but we didn’t miss a beat, all our guys did a good job.”

The next day, Mission Valley traveled to Great Falls to face the Hawks and split in the twin bill. The Rockies defeated Great Falls 11-1 the first game, but then dropped the second one 14-5.

In the first game, Mission Valley got home runs from Geiber and Ovitt that helped key the offense to a 10-run mercy rule win.

The Rock Show scored eight runs in the first inning, and after Great Falls scored a run in the third, they answered back with three more runs for the win. James Ruleson pitched well, allowing just one unearned run, on one hit and striking out six.

“James pitched a gem and his defense backed him up when he needed it,” Anderson said.

Ruleson also went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double. Geiber went 2-for-3 and his homer plated three runs. He would finish with four RBIs. Ovitt was 1-for-3 and his homer brought in two runs.

“He belted one way out of the park,” Anderson said.

Crawford had two hits, a double and two RBIs, while Ryan Anderson had a hit and an RBI. In the second game, a tighter strike zone by a changing of umpires affected the Rockies and they ended up dropping the second game 14-5.

Mission Valley scored the first run in the top of the first, but Great Falls came back with four in the bottom of the frame. They extended that lead to 5-0 before Mission Valley made it 5-4 with a three-run fourth inning. The Hawks struck back in the very next frame with a four run rally, then after another Rockies run, scored six in the fifth for the 14-5 victory.

Mission Valley got a 2-for-3 performance from Warren Wood, and RBIs from Krebs and Ryan Anderson. Damian Mathis plated two runs.

“Overall, I’m extremely happy we’re finally starting to put things together,” Anderson said. “We were playing with only 10 guys this weekend, and when we get everybody there I think that we’ll see we can compete with anyone at any level.”

Mission Valley, now heads to Bonner over the weekend for Pioneer Daze. In the round-robin tournament, the Rockies will play on Saturday at noon and 2:30 p.m., then on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

MV R 11 , FLORENCE 3

F - 200 - 100 - 0 - 3

MV - 410 - 060 - x - 11

Florence - 7 hits. MV - 11 hits.

Rockies batting - Bransen Krebs 0-3, Brady Ovitt 1-1, Keith Woodward 1-3, Chris Geiber 1-3, Jeremiah Crawford 2-3, Ryan Anderson 2-3, Warren Wood 1-2, Ryan Turner 0-3, Damian Mathis 2-4, Tanner Tammaro 1-3. 2B - Crawford, Anderson, Mathis. RBIs - Ovitt 2, Crawford 2, Anderson 2, Mathis 2, Tammaro. Rockies Pitching - Tanner Tammaro (0IP, 2 runs), Bransen Krebs (4IP, 1R, 3 hits), Ryan Turner (3 IP, 0R, 4 hits)

MV R 17, FLORENCE 16

F - 002 - 0(11)0 - 12 - 16

MV - 202 - 062- 23 - 17

Florence - 10 hits and 6 errors. MV - 16 hits and 6 errors.

Rockies batting - Bransen Krebs 4-6, Keith Woodward 3-4, Chris Geiber 1-5, Jeremiah Crawford 1-3, Ryan Anderson 3-5, Warren Wood 0-5, Ryan Turner 1-3, Damian Mathis 1-3, Joey Anderson 0-2, Brady Ovitt 2-2. 3B - Krebes. 2B - Krebs. RBIs - Krebes 4, Woodward 3, Geiber, Crawford, Anderson, Wood, Turner, Joey Anderson. Rockies Pitching - Geiber (4IP, 5 hits, 4 runs, 3K), Wood (1IP, 2 hits, 10 runs), Crawford (3IP, 3 runs, 2 hits.

MV R 11, GREAT FALLS 1

MV - 800 - 30 - 11

G - 001 - 00 - 1

MV - 11 hits. Great Falls - 1 hits.

Rockies batting - Bransen Krebs 2-3, James Ruleson 2-2, Chris Geiber 2-3, Jeremiah Crawford 2-3, Ryan Anderson 1-3, Warren Wood 0-1, Ryan Turner 0-2, Damian Mathis 1-3, Brady Ovitt 1-3. 2B - Ruleson, Crawford. HR - Geiber, Ovitt. RBIs - Ruleson, Geiber 4, Crawford 2, Ryan Anderson, Ovitt 2. R Pitching - James Ruleson (5IP, 1 run, 1 hit, 6K)

GREAT FALLS 14, MV R 5

MV - 100 - 31 - 5

G - 410 - 46 - 14

MV - 7 hits. Great Falls - 8 hits.

Rockies batting - Bransen Krebs 1-2, James Ruleson 0-1, Chris Geiber 1-3, Jeremiah Crawford 0-1, Ryan Anderson 1-2, Warren Wood 2-3, Ryan Turner 1-1, Damian Mathis 1-3, Banks Stocking 0-1. 2B - Mathis. RBIs - Krebs, Ryan Anderson, Mathis 2. Rockies Pitching - Chris Geiber (0 IP, 4 runs), Jeremiah Crawford (4 2/3IP, 7 hits, 3K), Ryan Turner (1/3IP, 1 run, 1 hit).