Mariners B beat up on Bitterroot pitching

HAMILTON — The Mariners B team outhit and outplayed their opponent, the Class A Bitterroot Red Sox, last Saturday in a doubleheader split on the road. Mission Valley battled back in later innings but couldn’t win in the first game, falling 13-12, but bounced back to win the nightcap 13-11.

“That’s the second time that we’ve come back from multiple runs and scored multiple runs ourselves to win it,” manager Chris Brown said. “That shows the kids are playing with heart. That’s what a rally shows. It’s nice to know that the kids are capable of coming back and putting a rally together.”

In the first game, Bitterroot jumped out to an early 6-4 lead through two innings but gained the upper hand with six runs in the fourth inning. Trailing 12-4, Mission Valley outscored the Bucs 8-1 the rest of the way but couldn’t quite pull it out in the seventh.

“We outhit them by quite a bit,” Brown said. “What bit us were the walks and hit by pitches we had in the game.”

Nine different Mariners had hits in the first game, including multi-hit games from Ryan Pablo, Alex Killian, Chris Drebes and Nick Crawford. Drebes also hit the first home run of his Legion career.

“He’s been working hard all year in our hitting drills,” Brown said.

Killian also had two doubles in the game. In the second game, Mission Valley got to work early at the plate and scored nine runs through the first three innings. Leading 9-8 going into the top of the fifth, the Mariners added two more runs to get some space between them and their opponent. They also scored a run in the sixth and seventh inning to hold on for the 13-11 victory.

“The kids made a lot of adjustments at the plate,” Brown said. “We were acting on pitches we could handle and patient with the pitches we couldn’t. We had several extra base hits and outhit one of our conference opponents. The Red Sox are always a tough out.”

Drebes pitched four innings for the Mariners and David Cleveland closed the final three innings out.

“This was another outing that Chris pitched very well,” Brown said. “We just had some errors that gave them some of those runs. He easily could have given up just two or three runs in the game. David also threw the games really well. We didn’t give them those extra baserunners from walks or hit by pitches.”

Pablo went 3-for-6 in the game and finished the weekend 5-for-11. Jacob Harrod and Alex Killian both had multihits in the game as well.

“Ryan had some tough plays in the field but he came back and went 5-for-11 at the plate,” Brown said. “That was a very mature weekend for him, being able to overcome and let go of those.”

The victory was the third over a team that the A team will face at the district tournament, and the second win over a conference opponent.

“It’s huge,” Brown said. “It does speak to the talent of this team. That’s sending a message to our district and its’ good for the A team to see come of the younger kids come out and beat a team they’ll be facing in conference play.”

Brown added that it was good to pick up the win in Hamilton since it’s a tough place to play.

“The core of the B team played together last year so there’s already chemistry there and they’ve jelled nicely with the newer kids,” Brown said. “I think our chemistry has been very good and you can kind of see it in these performances with these conference opponents. We’ve been in almost every game with these conference teams.”

The B team will now have a few weeks off after a June 8 game was rescheduled. Brown said that the team will continue to work and they’ll focus on closing out games and developing that killer mentality.

“I hope our team can keep it going as the season continues,” Brown said.

RED SOX 13, MV B 12

M - 220 - 003 - 5 - 12

B - 150-601 - x - 13

MV - 14 hits

Mariners batting - Ryan Pablo 2-5, Mike Bournstein 1-1, Aaron Rassmussen 1-4, Alex Killian 3-5, Chris Drebes 2-4, Jared Young 0-3, David Cleveland 1-3, Nick Crawford 2-5, Quinn Harlan 1-3, JT Probst 1-4. 2B - Killian 2. HR - Drebes M Pitching - Bounstein (1 1/3 IP), Rassmussen (2 2/3 IP), Ryan Pablo (2 IP)

MV B 13, RED SOX 11

M - 144 - 021 - 1 - 13

R - 062 - 002 - 1 - 11

MV - 10 hits

Mariners batting - Ryan Pablo 3-6, Jacob Harrod 2-4, Alex Killian 2-4, Chris Drebes 0-5, Jared Young 0-2, JT Probst 1-1, Niqolas Gillingham 1-3, David Cleveland 0-4, Quinn Harlan 1-2, Ian Ricketts 0-4.

M Pitching - Drebes (4IP), Cleveland (3IP)