LAUREL — After months of fearing their American Legion baseball season would be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Laurel Dodgers began it in ideal fashion Tuesday night. Yet they left Thomson Park feeling disappointed.
That’s natural for a team that follows up a 10-0 win with a 10-0 loss. The Dodgers opened Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Billings Blue Jays with a run-rule win that ended in the sixth inning. But Laurel’s run differential returned to where it was hours earlier thanks to a five-inning loss in the second half of the sunny, well-attended twin bill.
“Coming into today was weird, being that it’s already June and we’re just playing our first game,” said Laurel outgoing senior shortstop Keagan Campbell. “It was exciting, though, for sure. A lot of fans came out, and I talked to them a lot before the game. They were all very excited to come watch us play, and we were all very excited to play.”
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The Dodger bats took a few innings to warm up, and that was acceptable considering their pitchers’ performances. Landen Peak and Isaac Nieto combined to toss six scoreless frames.
Laurel plated its first run in the third inning, scored twice in both the fourth and fifth and ended the first game with a five-run sixth.
The Dodgers’ top four batters each recorded two hits — Campbell (2 for 4) drove in two runs and scored three, Keagan Thompson (2 for 3) had three RBIs, and Richie Cortese (2 for 3) and Jaxon Wittmayer (2 for 3) each hit a double.
Those bats cooled down in the second game, largely because of Blue Jays pitcher Davis Mosier. The rising junior at Billings Senior allowed three hits, didn’t issue a walk and struck out seven Dodgers on 55 pitchers in five innings. The right-hander credited his off-speed stuff.
“Usually, my changeup isn’t fully on, but today I got about three kids with the changeup,” Mosier said. “I was on.”
The Blue Jays’ Lance Schaff went 2 for 2 with two walks and two RBIs, Sam McCoy went 1 for 2 with a double and two walks, Kayden Keith went 2 for 2 with a walk and two stolen bases, Jesson West went 1 for 1 with two walks and Owen Doucette was 1 for 4 with a double and four RBIs in the 10-0 win.
“We’re kind of down, but we’re pretty young, so we weren’t coming in expecting a whole lot,” Campbell said. “This coronavirus stuff is behind us, hopefully, so we can just move forward and focus on baseball and the summer.”
The Blue Jays began their season with a doubleheader sweep of the Gallatin Valley Outlaws on Monday.
Email Victor Flores at victor.flores@406mtsports.com and follow him on Twitter at @VictorFlores_BG