Reds Draw Curtains on Regular Season

The Reds wrapped up the regular season this week, sloughing through the ticker tape with a 2-4 record in their final six games versus Laurel, the Billings Cardinals, and the Billings Blue Jays.

Glasgow split each of the first two-game series. In game one against Laurel, the Reds faced a brick wall in the form of the Dodgers' starter, who yielded just two hits in a complete game effort. Glasgow fell, 11-1. In game two, the Reds rebounded with a 7-4 victory, capitalizing on two hits each by Gabe and Bryce Legare and starter Jason Thibault's rubber arm, with which he slung 135 pitches over seven innings and notched 11 strikeouts along the way.

The next day pumped the Cardinals through Eastern Montana's ever-pulsing vein, Highway 2, shepherding big-city Billings up north for a Wednesday evening double-header. In game one, Reds starter Kasey Seyfert scythed through a Cardinals' lineup which seemed to be made of nothing more than thin buttercream; Seyfert needed just 77 pitches to finish his three-hitter. The Reds won, 6-1, buoyed by Sam Schultz's 3 RBIs and two hits apiece from Thibault and Dylan Guttenberg.

In game two, the turntables spun to a different beat. Glasgow committed nine fielding errors, stranded ten baserunners, and fell, 14-4.

Saturday was senior night, the Reds' ten upperclassmen's final regular-season Sullivan Park bow. A pre-game ceremony was held to honor the graduating players, and coach Sprague told them of his pride in what they've done while under his charge.

"The whole goal of this program is to develop men and decision-makers," he said. "We instill the values of discipline, work ethic, and loyalty in order to shape these guys for a successful life."

The Blue Jays soared up from Billings in the early afternoon; each team hoped that at night's conclusion they would be able to claim themselves in strong position for the next week's playoff tournament, having secured a couplet of victories and thus a higher seed.

"We knew going in we'd end up third [seed in the playoffs] if we swept 'em," said coach Jack Sprague.

The first game started auspiciously; Glasgow leapt on its foes as a house cat on an abandoned nest of – well, Blue Jay – eggs. Keil Krumwiede blasted a two-run homer, doing his part in spotting his team a 3-0 first-inning lead. Krumwiede finished with six total bases to go with an HBP, and starter Ryan Padden lasted the full seven innings, scattering five hits and surrendering two earned runs. But three Reds errors invited a fourth-inning Blue Jay flurry which knotted the game at three. Two sixth-inning runs sent the Reds to sea in an oarless boat. The final score was 5-3.

Game two saw Billings build a 6-0 lead over a span of four innings, only for the Reds to mount a rally and cut the deficit to one. Billings, however, answered in the top half of the next frame, plating a half-dozen to extend its lead to 12-5. Four runs in the bottom of the seventh proved no more than consolation for a weary Reds squad.

"We let the seniors pick and choose positions they hadn't played since they were little kids," said Sprague, "so at times it got a little sloppy out there."

On Thursday, all eight of Montana's East Legion A-ball teams converge at Sullivan for the playoffs. The tournament is formatted in round robin, double-elimination style, akin to that of the College World Series. Glasgow's 31-17 record earned it the four seed, meaning a first round date versus the fifth-place Billings Cardinals.

"We're not too worried about where we sit in the bracket," said Sprague. "We've had a plan from day one, and we stick to it. We'd just as soon play the Cardinals in the first round and have a shot at Lewistown in round two [as we would take a higher seed]."

The second-placed Laurel Dodgers and seventh-ranked Richland County Patriots open tournament play at ten o'clock Thursday morning. The Reds' first game begins at 7:00 that night; a victory ensures a date in round two versus either top-seeded Lewistown or eight-seeded Miles City. A loss relegates the Reds to the loser's bracket.

In four contests versus the Cardinals this summer, the two teams played to a stalemate. The aggregate score tallied 30-19 in Glasgow's favor – the Reds did, however, win one of the games 17-0.

"Any team can beat anybody on any given day," said Sprague. "We play how we play, and that's all we can control."

Sprague's twenty-plus years of coaching serve as testament to the efficacy of his autonomy-driven approach. Come practice this week, he assures the pre-playoff preparation will be typical to the way he's always done it. "We'll spend some time on communicating the right way [and] defensive repetition," he said. "We just gotta get clean and be ready to play."