Dogs sweep Mariners in Legion action

Baseball is an amazing game.

One day you are mired in a slump where you can’t hit the barn door with both hands.

A couple days later, you are leaving smoke behind on the base paths as you generate friction crossing home plate.

Slump busting it’s called.

Such was the case early last week when the Clark Fork Riverdogs broke out of a run-starved three game mini-slump in a big way, crushing the Mission Valley Mariners 21-2 and 20-8 in a lopsided doubleheader sweep in Polson this past Tuesday.

Just days before that, in what was the Riverdogs’ final home stand of the season, the Dogs had dropped a pair of close games to the Libby Loggers, losing the two games on that day by a combined three runs.

And those losses were on the heels of some gut-wrenching news that one of their top players, Orion Plakke, was out for the season with a broken bone in his hand.

So when the hits started raining down in the top of the first inning of the first game against Mission Valley, there was no doubt much joy in “Dog-ville”.

In the blink of an eye, a mini-slump, which would rear its ugly head again when the team opened play in a tournament in Kalispell, had been cruelly assaulted leaving only the “ping” of aluminum in its wake.

Where once runners were left on base all too frequently, those same runners cruised across home plate in a nine-run top of the first inning that this time saw clean hits when needed….in bunches.

Leading the swatting revival was Riverdogs third baseman Jack Taylor, who has been on fire at the plate for several weeks while others struggled. Taylor put together a five-for-five day at the plate, with a season-best eight RBIs. On the way to such eye-popping stats, Taylor’s eruption included two triples and a pair of doubles. The team, most importantly, hit five doubles and batted in 18 runs during the game. They collected 15 hits along the way...slump on the run. Mission accomplished on this evening.

Mission clawed back in the bottom of the first with a single run, only to watch in despair as the Dogs tacked on two more in the top of the second to build an 11-1 lead. Clark Fork wound up scoring runs in every inning and took advantage of five Mariners’ errors to put the game away after five innings due to the 10-run Mercy rule.

Four Clark Fork players had double digit hits, including Garth Parker (2-2) Nate Zigler (2-4) and Alessi Rolando (3-5) adding to the total along with Taylor. The Riverdogs meanwhile got an outstanding game on the mound from Trenis McDonald, who threw a six-hitter spread out over five innings, while striking out three Mariners and walking no one.

After the customary 45 minute break between games, the Riverdogs were at it again, scoring a single run in the top of the first. Mission came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the opening inning to take a 2-1 lead, but the Dogs made that a short-lived deficit with two runs in the top of the second and another in the top of the third to go up 4-2.

MV tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the third and fourth innings and was ahead 8-4 going into the top of inning number five when the Riverdogs exploded for 16 runs to invoke a second 10-run Mercy rule decision on their way to the 20-8 win.

The Riverdogs continued emerging from their mini-slump, out hitting the host team 13-5.

And they continued spreading the hits around the lineup with six players collecting two hits each. In so doing, they got four RBIs from both Rolando and Zigler, three more from Taylor and Jody Page, and a pair of runs knocked in by Tanner Day. Zigler’s haul included a double and triple as the Dogs took advantage of 10 walks issued by Mariners’ pitchers.

The Riverdogs used three pitchers, Rolando, Page and Bryson McCormick to quiet the Mariners’ bats, most importantly in the bottom of inning number five when McCormick held them scoreless to preserve the victory.

A relieved head coach Jon Zigler was obviously pleased to say the least with the two-game dominance.

“Our offense was on fire tonight,” he said. “We scored 41 runs in two games. Taylor, Zigler and Rolando were absolutely on fire tonight, but everyone on the team was dialed in offensively”.

Zigler also praised a “fantastic” pitching job in game one by McDonald, and was also happy with the three double plays the Dogs executed in the second half of the twin bill.