Savage Horsemen fall in opener

The Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen team lost its first baseball game to the Frenchtown Broncos 16-2 at the Amundson Sports Complex at Plains Thursday, but Coach Rick Powers is optimistic that his boys will turn things around for next game.

Frenchtown already played its first game, which they lost to Hamilton 10-0. On Thursday, Savage Horseman Joe Pullen took the mound first and held the Broncos to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Savage Horsemen couldn't get on the board at the bottom of the first. Powers put Allen Peters on the mound in the second inning. Frenchtown collected seven more runs in the second inning and climbed to 11 runs before Plains could get on the board. In the top of the third, Garth Parker took the mound. In the bottom of the third, Devin Barnes singled and then stole second. Sam Feliksa singled, sending Barnes home for the Savage Horsemen's first run and an RBI for Feliksa.

The Broncos climbed to 13 runs in the fourth and in the fifth collected three more runs. In the bottom of the fifth the first two Savage Horsemen were quickly put out, but then it looked like they might come back. Beau Crabb doubled, stole third, then went home on a single by Matt Wyatt, but a strikeout finished the game.

"I was aware of the caliber of players that took the field," said Powers, yet he added that he's going to be working to get them better by putting the right players in the right positions. The coach said the team members need to work on "all aspects" of the game. Their biggest mistakes were not making catches and not hitting. He said they need to improve their work behind the plate, but Powers plans to stick with Feliksa and Crabb as the primary catchers, but also work with others. He said his pitchers Joe Pullen and Garth Parker performed as well as he expected.

Two of his top players, Will Tatum and Wyatt Butcher, missed the game because they were participating in the school's SkillsUSA competition. The Plains Hot Springs team began with 14 players, including three from Hot Springs. Four more boys from Plains - Aiden West, Anaya Loberg, Zeph Dine and Christian Gamino - signed up for the team.

Baseball is new to high schools throughout Montana. The Plains-Hot Springs team is one of 21 teams throughout Montana and the only one in Sanders County. The Montana High School Association voted last year to make baseball a sanctioned high school sport.

"We are all on a learning curve with this being the first year for baseball with some of the young men never having played baseball or not playing for several years," the coach said. "We need to keep in mind that we are teaching the game and hopefully having some fun along the way."

The schedule for the Plains-Hot Springs has changed with an addition of games. The Savage Horsemen travel to Mission for a game on April 6, then have two home games, first against Browning on Monday, April 10, at 4 p.m., followed by a game against Polson on Thursday, April 13, at 4 p.m. They travel to Frenchtown for a rematch against the Broncs on April 20.