Errors catch up to Monarchs

With nearly as many fielding errors as hits, Thursday was a night the Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs would likely rather forget.

The Kalispell Lakers had Medicine Hat’s number early, chasing the Monarchs off the diamond with a 10-0 mercy rule victory in the first half of the doubleheader at Athletic Park. While the Monarchs rebounded with a stronger effort in Game 2, any hope for a late comeback was dashed in a 5-4 extra innings loss.

“That’s kind of been our downfall all year. We can always swing it, we’re always pitching well, but our defence has always kind of held us back,” said assistant coach Austin Schibler, whose Monarchs were responsible for three fielding errors and four hits in their opening loss before suffering with six more blunders in a nine-hit nightcap. “Kalispell is a good team. We can compete right with them and I know our team can do well in this league. We’re going to find a way to win ball games in the future.”

Monarchs first baseman Drake Thompson finally put his team on the board in the sixth inning of Game 2 with a 2 RBI single, then Jack Suhai drove the tying run across the plate to force extra innings with a onebagger of his own.

The Lakers and Monarchs traded runs in the 11th inning before Kalispell finally sealed the sweep with a walk-in run in the 12th — dropping the Monarchs to 17 in conference play.

Lakers right fielder Ryan Symmes took a win away from Medicine Hat in the 11th with a highlight-reel diving catch, which he quickly turned into a double play. The snag held Medicine Hat’s walk-off run at third.

Monarchs started Ethan Ropcean held his team in the game by keeping Kalispell to three runs on four hits through eight innings, but the quality start was stymied in the end.

four extra innings.

Monarchs starting pitcher Cole Schreiber was tagged with the opening loss after allowing six runs through four innings of work. Kade Krauss took the mound in the fifth, but the Lakers put up a fourspot to end the opener early.

The Monarchs return to the diamond Monday with a doubleheader at Athletic Park against the Butte Miners.