Riverdogs rebound with 2 road wins

The Dogs are back in the hunt.

After a mild stumble two weeks ago, the Clark Fork Riverdogs picked up a pair of road wins this past week, hammering short-handed Libby 18-7, then taking down the Class A Missoula Mavericks 12-10 in a slug fest three days later.

With two of their key players sidelined for various reasons, the Libby Loggers were still a formidable foe, as the Dogs know all too well from earlier meetings this season.

But this time around the Dogs had their day, jumping out to a quick eight-run lead before the top of the first inning was in the books.

An error, five singles and a big 2-run double pushed the Hounds to a 5-0 lead with only one out in the inning, and that out was an RBI sacrifice. Eli Ratliff was the first batter up and reached base safely on a Libby error. Nate Zigler, Bean Plakke, Kody Carter and Beano Fisher all had run scoring base hits in the opening onslaught, with Tanner Day and Ratliff adding run producing doubles that upped the lead to 8-0. The double was Day’s second hit of the first inning.

Libby was able to shake off the initial Clark Fork scoring barrage in the form of a solo home run, but starting pitcher Jack Taylor shook it off and limited the Loggers to just one run.

Both teams went down in order in the second inning before the Riverdogs bats added two top of the second tallies on a Alessi Rolando double and a Libby error to boost their lead to 10-1.

Taylor retired six of the next seven Logger batters, the lone base runner was via a walk, while striking out three to keep the home team in check while the Riverdogs tacked on four more runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a commanding 14-1 lead.

Day, who had three hits and was twice hit by a pitch, scored in fourth after crushing a triple.

Libby got a run back in the bottom of the fifth, then rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth but the damage had been done by Riverdogs hitters. Clark Fork pushed four more runs across the plate in the top of the ninth on a pair of run producing singles by Taylor and Bryson McCormick, to help secure the eventual 18-7 win.

Next up for the Riverdogs was a second meeting of the season with the Class A Missoula Mavericks, whom the Dogs had upset in their season opener last month in Missoula.

Pitcher Zigler held the Mavericks to scoreboard zeros for the first four innings of the game, while the Riverdogs put up three in the top of the third and two in the top of inning number four, building a 5-0 lead along the way. Plakke led the way for the dogs in the Friday night encounter, going three for six from the plate with four RBIs and scoring three runs.

Then the Mavericks bats caught fire, chasing Zigler and greeting relief pitcher Garth Parker with a hit parade that brought home four runs in the bottom of the fifth and five in the lower half of the sixth inning.

The inning five outburst came after the Riverdogs had added four runs of their own in the top of the sixth. At that point, the offenses had produced a 9-9 deadlock through the first six innings of play.

The Riverdogs brought home one run in the seventh to break the tie, then added a couple more in the top of the eighth to go ahead 12-9.

After being held scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings thanks to some clutch pitching by Parker, Missoula managed to push fans a little closer to the edge of their seats when they scored once in the bottom of the ninth to cut the Riverdogs lead to 12-10, but Parker held on and shut them down to close out the game.

In addition to Plakke’s offensive outburst, the Riverdogs also got three RBIs from Taylor and two from outfielder Rolando who was three for five at the plate. Both teams banged out 11 hits each for the game.

And while the offenses were hot, both teams experienced some fielding mistakes, with the Riverdogs committing five errors and the Mavericks dropping the ball seven times.

The win boosted the Dogs to 9-7 on the year.

They play tonight (Tuesday) in a road rematch with Libby.

“Big win (vs Libby) for the Riverdogs going into the Missoula game,” said coach Jon Zigler. “All facets of the game were clicking, our bats were smoking hot. Bean Plakke hit a 350-foot home run, had a triple and a single in the Loggers game.

“The pitching combo of Parker and Zigler held up against a very good Mavericks club”.