Reds Season Burns Out In Glendive

Despite powering their way to a third seed with a huge performance to end the regular season, the Glasgow Reds' season came to a quick close this weekend with an inability to get strikes.

The team surrendered 25 walks and hit five batters in two games at the Eastern A District Tournament in Glendive last weekend, losing both while putting itself in a hole early and often against some of the best teams in the region.

On Thursday, the Reds took on the Billings Cardinals and the problems surfaced quickly. After a relatively clean two innings of play, the Reds imploded in the third, allowing seven runs on four walks, a hit batsman and an error in the inning, with the Cardinals only getting two hits. Two more walks and a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning gave the Cardinals a nine-run lead before the Reds were even able to answer.

In the bottom of the fourth the Reds did their best to climb back into the game. With men on second and third, Dylan Hughes blasted a home run over the outfield wall to bring the score to 9-3, but it just wasn't enough. The Cardinals' Nate Smith blasted a three-run homer of his own the next inning and Billings was able to use its speed on the basepaths in the sixth and seventh to capitalize on even more walks issued by the Reds. The Reds scored three times in the final inning to narrow the score to 17-7, but were way to far out to have a chance, losing the game by the ten-run rule.

Hughes led the team, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs in the game. Jeff Irving, Walt Dalbey, Dillon Rasmusan and Jon Page each had an RBI in the loss.

The issues didn't go away against Wolf Point on Friday. The Yellow Jackets scored twice in the first inning of the loser-out game, getting two walks to aid them in the cause. Lustre's Tom Leland drove in two more for the Jackets in the third, hitting a double that scored two teammates that had been walked to lead off the inning.

Other than a Zach Remus sacrifice fly in the first inning that scored one, the Reds bats were cold in the game. Dylan Hughes hit his second home run of the tournament in the sixth, hitting a two-run shot that narrowed the lead to 4-3. 

Yet, the control issues continued to haunt the Reds. Two walks and a hit batsman led off the seventh, and a single was all that was needed to stretch the Jackets' lead to 5-3. A Leland three-run homer in the eighth put a stamp on the game and one more run in the ninth sealed the game 9-3 for the Jackets, ending the Reds' hopes for 2010.

Hughes went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the game, while Dalbey, Rasmusan and Kyle Stein each recorded a hit in the game. Jon Page got the loss while pitching eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. He allowed five runs on five hits.

The Laurel Dodgers won the tournament, defeating the Billings Blue Jays 18-13 in the championship.

The Reds finished the season 32-22 overall and 11-5 in conference. Hughes, Remus and Page, all graduating seniors, were each presented with a personalized bat before the Reds' series with Richland County last week. Though the Reds lose a lot of talent, they still have a very young squad returning next year and should contend again near the top of the conference.