Mustangs fall to Powell, clobber Riverton

District tournament next

Sweeps were the order of the day for the Lovell Mustangs last week as they were swept by rival Powell Thursday but came back strong to do the same to Riverton Friday.

The 2-2 split leaves the Mustangs at 19-22-2 heading into the Class A West District Tournament July 19-21 in Green River.

The Mustangs had swept Powell at home on June 21, and the Pioneers were no doubt looking for revenge at home. Powell took it out on the Mustangs, winning 14-6 and 14-7. Lovell rebounded Friday, however, beating Riverton 10-5 and 9-2.

In game one Thursday in Powell, the Pioneers jumped on Lovell starter Blake Wilson for five runs in the bottom of the first inning and tacked on two more in the second and three in the third. Lovell tried to keep pace, plating two in the second and one in the third but trailed 10-3 after three. Powell went on to win 14-6.

Powell only outhit Lovell 12-10, but three Mustang errors and seven walks helped the Powell cause. Wilson pitched 4 2/3 innings, Matthew Newman 1 1/3.

Carlos Rodriguez, Tucker Jackson and Newman had two hits each for the Mustangs, Jacob Bischoff, Alex Hedges, Kyle Wilson and Blake Wilson one apiece. Hedges, Newman and Jackson hit doubles, and Bischoff led the squad with two RBIs.

“I think they were definitely ready to play,” Lovell manager Michael Jameson said of the Pioneers. “You know, Blake threw well for us, but they did a good job of hitting him and putting the ball in play, especially with two outs. We’d be able to get two outs, and then they would string a couple of hits together and prolong an inning, or we’d make an error or something like that.

“I was looking back on that first game, and I think we gave up 11 two-out RBIs, which is going to be pretty tough to overcome. And so I think they did a good job hitting with two outs, and we didn’t do a great job of getting that third out of the inning.

“We had opportunities, and at different times we couldn’t string some hits together, and they did that. And, like I said, with the 10 hits, we definitely had some opportunities but weren’t able to get several of those timely hits.”

One bad inning spelled doom for the Mustangs in game two. Lovell had built a 7-4 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth, but the Pioneers plated eight runs to seize control of the game, back-to-back Mustang errors punctuating the uprising. Powell led 12-7 and added two more runs in the fifth.

“It was kind of deflating,” Jameson said. “I think just one of those things where you try to make a play and make something happen and are not able to do it. And so, yeah, just one of those games.”

A team has to be at the top of their game to beat a quality team like Powell, Jameson noted.

“You have to play a clean game defensively,” he said. “You’re going to have to hit the ball and come up with some big plays. They’re a good team and defending state champs. Yeah, with teams like that, you can’t give them second and third opportunities, like we did several times.”

Lovell outhit Powell 12-10 in the game but made seven errors and walked 11 batters in an uncharacteristically sloppy game for the Mustangs. Starting pitcher Lafe Files allowed 12 runs, but only four were earned. Bischoff, Hedges and Cash Wassmer pitched in relief.

Hedges had a strong day at the plate, going 4-4 with four RBIs, a double, home run and two runs scored. Rodriguez and Kyle Wilson had two hits each. Rodriguez hit a triple, Wassmer a double.

Home sweep

The Mustangs rebounded at home Friday, clobbering Riverton 10-5 and 9-2 on senior night for Rodriguez, Bischoff and Blake Wilson.

Riverton scored two runs in the top of the first inning off Lovell starter Jackson, and the Raiders held Lovell bats at bay until the bottom of the third inning when the Mustangs exploded for nine runs. Jackson got the scoring started with a two-run single, and Newman roped a two-run double. Owen Walker tripled to score Newman, and Rodriguez added an RBI single.

Jameson said the Mustangs gradually gained confidence against Riverton starting pitcher Anderson, who looked strong early in the game.

“The longer that game went, I think we had better at bats,” Jameson said. “You could see the confidence growing, and those guys kind of grinded out some tough at bats. And they were able to put some good swings on him. And yeah, as the game went on, we just continued to grow. Our confidence continued to grow.”

It would have been better, however, if the Mustangs had consistent scoring rather than one big inning, Jameson said.

“That was kind of the thing we talked about,” he said. “It’s great to have the one big inning, but we need to add on with a few runs in every inning and not just rely on having something like that happen. But, you know, we’ll take a win.”

Lovell added one run in the fourth, Riverton one in the fifth and two in the sixth.

The Mustangs banged out 13 hits in the game, and Wassmer led the way with a three-for-three performance. Rodriguez, Files and Newman had two hits each, Bischoff, Jackson, Hedges and Walker one apiece.

Jackson, Rocco Rael and Newman pitched for Lovell. Jackson struck out 14 in 4 2/3 innings of work.

The Mustangs had more consistent scoring, per Jameson’s wishes, in game two, plating one in the first, two in the third, two in the fourth and four in the sixth while allowing just one Riverton run. Files, Wassmer and Walker hit three consecutive RBI doubles in the bottom of the sixth for the Mustangs.

“We try to get runs in every inning, and then if we happen to have that big inning, that’s great. But we really want to try to get runs every inning and not rely on the big innings,” Jameson said.

Rodriguez threw a complete game for the Mustangs, allowing two runs, zero earned, in seven innings on four hits and just one walk while fanning 10.

“That was great for him to be able to throw a complete game like that in the last game on our home field, and to have 10 strikeouts,” Jameson said.

Jackson and Files had three hits each for the Mustangs, Walker two and Bischoff, Hedges and Wassmer one apiece.

District tournament

The Mustangs will travel to Green River this weekend for the Class A West District Tournament. The Mustangs will open with host Green River Friday at 7 p.m. If the Mustangs win, they will meet Cody Saturday at 7 p.m. Cody received an opening-round bye after Saratoga dropped out of the tournament.

If the Mustangs fall to Green River, they
will receive a loser’s bracket bye and play Sunday at 1 p.m.

Jameson said the Mustangs will enter the tournament with the mindset to win.

“We told them after those Riverton games that we’re not planning on going down just to qualify for State,” he said. “We’re going down with the intentions of winning it. We’ve played good baseball, and we’ve shown that we can beat good teams. We just need to go down and put together a good weekend. Our mindset needs to change from  just hoping to qualify for State to going down and winning a district championship and putting ourselves in a good spot for State.”

Jameson said consistency is the key to success in Green River.

“I think the biggest thing is just playing consistent baseball,” he said. “That’s been the key, kind of the big word for us all year -- being able to play consistent defensively and offensively and pitch it. I told our guys that our pitchers have kind of carried us all season and kept us in a lot of games; they’ve thrown them real well for us. At times our offense has done real well, and at times our defense has played real well. We just need to be consistent in all three areas, and we’ll be all right. I think we’ve done all three of those at a real high level a lot of times, and throughout the year. Just need to put it all together.”

Cody won the Class A Northwest Conference with a 9-3 record. Powell was second at 8-4, Lovell third at 7-5, Riverton in the basement at 0-12.

The Class A State Tournament will be held in Powell starting Saturday, July 27.