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WHITEFISH — At this rate, the rest of the conference had better hope for global warming to speed up, because weather has been the only thing capable of slowing down the red-hot Mission Valley Mariners.

Rain outs canceled three of their seven planned games last week but the M’s still swept two doubleheaders against conference opponents and improved their record to 16-2 on the season and 8-0 in conference. Their winning streak is also at 16 games.

WHITEFISH — At this rate, the rest of the conference had better hope for global warming to speed up, because weather has been the only thing capable of slowing down the red-hot Mission Valley Mariners.

Rain outs canceled three of their seven planned games last week but the M’s still swept two doubleheaders against conference opponents and improved their record to 16-2 on the season and 8-0 in conference. Their winning streak is also at 16 games.

“It’s extremely difficult to deal with the rain outs,” manager Jami Hanson said. “We’ve been telling the team to get mentally ready for games, and it really takes its toll. You’re getting ready for a game and getting mentally focused and then you’re getting dumped on.”

Between weather scenes from the movie “The Day After Tomorrow,” the Mariners traveled to Missoula on Thursday to face the Mavs, a team they’ve outscored 14-3 in two games this season. Mission Valley swept Missoula in a doubleheader in Polson back on May 20, and did the same last week with 14-7 and 11-3 victories. In the first game, Mission Valley withstood a Mavs comeback to pick up the 14-7 victory behind 13 strikeouts by starting pitcher Justin Evertz.

While it wasn’t Evertz best outing, he still put together a strong start as the Mariners pitcher gave up just three earned runs, and picked up his fourth victory of the season. Mission Valley jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second inning, but Missoula didn’t just roll over, notching six runs in the bottom of the third. That didn’t daunt the Mariners, who couldn’t be held off the plate after the Mavs initial rally. Mission Valley outscored Missoula 7-1 in the final four innings of action.

“Sometimes we get to a place where its like someone turned on the light switch,” Hanson said. “I’d prefer it be more of a dimmer switch then we’re getting production all the time but it’s always nice to have insurance runs when you can.”

In a feat that you won’t see very often in a baseball game, Mission Valley collected six triples. Jack Humphreys and Jacob Young both had triples, while Zeke “Magic” Webster-Yaqui and Robbie Gauthier hit two triples apiece in the cavernous Missoula Mavericks’ ballpark. Gauthier finished the game 4-for-4 with two doubles as well and two RBIs. Mission Valley had 15 hits overall.

“That’s not just hitting,” Hanson said. “That’s seeing your pitch for a good pitch and putting them in the gap.”

Humphreys and Chris Clary both drove in two runs, while Webster-Yaqui, Evertz, Austin Von Tom and Bradley Pichler also plated runs with their bats. After Evertz pitched the first six innings, Dalton Molzhon came in for the final inning of work, struck out one and picked up the save. In the second game of the twinbill, Mission Valley scored the final eight runs of the game and won 9-1 to improve their record over the Mavs to 4-0. Webster-Yaqui went 3-for-4 with a double, while Clary, Molzhon and Gauthier drove in two runs apiece for the Mariners. Clary had a double and Evertz hit a home run.

“Justin basically made it on base three times,” Hanson said. “He was hit by a pitch that was called back because they said he leaned into it, even though he was using his arm to protect his face. Then he hit a home run that I believe was fair but it was called foul. Then Justin came back and hit it out of the park. It was no doubt a home run that time. It was an amazing at-bat.”

Young stayed hot, driving in a run for the Mariners and connected on a double.Nick Crawford and Pichler combined to allow just three hits and one un-earned run. Crawford pitched the first four innings, while Pichler had the next three. Both had three strikeouts with Crawford allowing just three hits and Pi-chler allowing one. On Saturday, the Mariners traveled north to Whitefish where they made short work of the Class A Glacier Twins. Mission Valley won both games, 13-0 and 11-0, and have given up just three hits against the Twins this season.

In their first game, it was an emotional start for pitching ace Kellen Hoyt. A member of the National Guard, Hoyt made his last start for the Mariners before leaving for basic training. He went out on top.Hoyt pitched a memorable one-hit gem while striking out nine. Hoyt didn’t walk a batter and told his catcher, Humphreys, between games that “I feel like I’m going to cry.”

In the end, Hoyt made one heck of a statement with his pitching. Meanwhile, the M’s got work done at the plate, with Humphreys leading the way. The leadoff man and catcher was 3-for-4 from the plate and drove in four runs. Clary and Evertz both had doubles and drove in two runs while Von Tom also plated two runs. Mission Valley jumped out to a 4-0 lead through the first two innings, then scored three in the fourth and six in the fifth inning to enact the 10-run mercy rule after Hoyt shut down the Twins in the bottom of the frame. In the second game, the Mariners got another stellar pitching performance from Von Tom, who got his third victory of the season. He went five innings, al-lowing just one hit and striking out one in the 11-0 victory.

“The pitchers threw great,” Hanson said. “Kellen threw phenomenal and Austin came out and threw just as well.”

Hoyt threw just 71 pitches, Von Tom threw 59.

“Kellen’s strike-to-pitch ratio was 80 percent and Austin’s was 86 percent,” Hanson said. “They’re hitting their spots with their fastballs, offspeed balls, changeups and curves. They can call on any one of their pitches at any time.”

At the plate, the Mariners got three RBIs from Gauthier, while Pichler knocked in two runs. Webster-Yaqui and Young also had an RBI in the game. Webster-Yaqui leads the team in doubles with six and in hits, with 28. Gauthier is currently in the team lead for RBIs with 21 and triples, with five. Mission Valley led 6-0 after one inning and never looked back. They scored three runs in the third and two in the fourth to again enact the 10-run rule after a scoreless fifth. Hanson said he liked what he saw from Young, Evertz, Clary and Pichler at the plate. The doubleheader sweep was the sixth of the season by the Mariners, who after a game against Libby on Tuesday night, will travel to the Maybelle Authur Tournament in Dillon this weekend.

Hanson wanted to add a special thanks to the Polson Streets and City Parks Department for allowing the Mariners to use extra equipment for the field. He also wanted to thank Jim Harrod for his help and Jerry Hanson for keeping the grass at the field cut.

MV 14, MISSOULA 7

MV - 070 - 213 - 1 - 14

MAVS - 006 - 100 - 0 - 7

MV - 15 hits, 2 errors. Missoula - 6 hits, 2 errors

Mariners batting - Jack Humphreys 1-3, Zeke Web-ster-Yaqui 2-5, Robbie Gauthier 4-4, Chris Clary 1-3, Justin Evertz 2-3, Austin Von Tom 2-4, Jacob Young 2-4, Bradley Pichler 1-4, Dalton Molzhon 0-4. HR - Evertz. 3B - Webster-Yaqui 2, Gauthier 2, Humphreys, Young. 2B - Gauthier 2, Clary. RBIs - Humphreys 2, Webster-Yaqui, Gauthier 2, Clary 2, Evertz, Von Tom, Pichler. Mariners Pitching - Justin Evertz (5 hits, 6 IP, 13K). Dalton Molzhon (1 hit, 1IP, 1K)

MV 9, MISSOULA 1

MV - 010 - 026 - 0 - 9

MAVS - 000 - 100 - 0 - 1

MV - 11 hits, 3 errors. Missoula - 1 hit, 2 errors

Mariners batting - Jack Humphreys 1-3, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 3-4, Robbie Gauthier 2-3, Chris Clary 1-4, Justin Evertz 1-2, Austin Von Tom 0-4, Jacob Young 1-4, Kellen Hoyt 1-4, Dalton Molzhon 1-4. HR - Evertz. 2B - Webster-Yaqui, Clary, Young. RBIs - Gauthier 2, Clary 2, Evertz, Young, Molzhon 2. Mariners Pitching - Nick Crawford (2 hits, 4IP, 1 run, 3K), Bradley Pichler (1 hit, 3IP, 3K)

MV 13, GLACIER 0

MV - 310 - 36 - 13

GL - 000 - 00 - 0 MV - 10 hits, 2 errors.

Glacier - 1 hit, 9 errors

Mariners batting - Jack Humphreys 3-4, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 1-2, Robbie Gauthier 0-3, Chris Clary 1-3, Justin Evertz 2-4, Austin Von Tom 1-2, Jacob Young 2-3, Bradley Pichler 0-2, Dalton Molzhon 0-3, Cole MacArthur 0-1. 2B - Evertz, Clary. RBIs - Hum-phreys 4, Clary 2, Evertz 2, Von Tom 2. Mariners Pitching - Kellen Hoyt (1 hit, 5 IP, 9K)

MV 11, GLACIER 0

MV - 603 - 20 - 11

GL - 000 - 00 - 0

MV - 14 hits, 0 errors. Glacier - 1 hit, 3 errors

Mariners batting - Jack Humphreys 0-3, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 2-4, Robbie Gauthier 1-4, Chris Clary 2-4, Justin Evertz 1-4, Austin Von Tom 2-3, Jacob Young 2-2, Bradley Pichler 2-3, Dalton Molzhon 2-2, Nick Crawford 1-1. 2B - Webster-Yaqui, Von Tom. RBIs - Webster-Yaqui, Gauthier 3, Young, Pichler 2. Mariners Pitching - Austin Von Tom (1 hit, 5IP, 1K)