Baseball doesn’t need long — sometimes just one inning — to make a case for it being the truest team sport.
One well-executed frame can go a long way.
Such was the case Tuesday afternoon, when the Bozeman Bucks came back from nine runs down to win their home finale 15-14 against the Medicine Hat (Alberta) Monarchs at Heroes Park.
Tuesday’s victory gave the Bucks the series win after the teams split two games Monday. In the first game, Cash Jones struck out six and allowed one run on five hits in a five-inning complete game as the Bucks won 12-1. The Monarchs won the nightcap Monday 4-2 after out-hitting Bozeman 12-4.
The comeback on Tuesday started in earnest in the fifth inning, when Bozeman scored four runs to trim the Monarchs’ lead to 13-9. In the bottom of the sixth, the Bucks sent 10 batters to the plate and pushed across six runs — answering Medicine Hat’s 14th run from the top half and, at long last, taking the lead.
The last of Bozeman’s six hits in that inning was a double by Luke Rizzo — the eighth batter of the frame — that brought home teammates Jadin Frandsen and Jarrett Herz as the tying and go-ahead runs.
It was a testament to teamwork. Rizzo said he wouldn’t have been in that spot to deliver a clutch hit if the players in front of him didn’t also get on base.
“That’s amazing,” Rizzo said. “Especially seeing some guys who are coming off slumps, and the team morale was working up as every hitter was getting on base. It’s really beautiful to see people get in there and do their job and get excited, get hyped, about it.”
That inning began with a double from Bryce Hampton and a single by Joey Starner. Josh Woodberry singled to score Hampton, and Austin Cooper’s bunt was misplayed by the Medicine Hat pitcher, allowing two runs to score to make it 14-12. After an out, Frandsen bunted his way aboard and Cooper raced home. Herz followed with a single — his third hit of the game along with two doubles — to set the stage for Rizzo. The third baseman finished with three hits and six RBIs in a game he’ll likely never forget.
“I’ve played a lot of baseball. That was epic. That’s up there,” Rizzo said. “I think that was the best comeback ever.”
For there to be a comeback, though, first there had to be a poor start.
Bucks manager Sean Potkay believed the team’s hitters were a little passive at the plate, passing up good pitches and then finding themselves working from behind. But defense and pitching also presented problems at times.
“That one kind of personified (working as a team). That was a tale of two halves of a game,” Potkay said. “Really at the beginning, struggled with our bats, didn’t make the routine play in a couple innings, that aided them, and they played really well there in the first three frames, especially at the plate. I just challenged them: ‘We’re playing for pride.’”
The teams were tied 4-4 after two innings, with the Monarchs scoring two in each frame while the Bucks scored one and three, respectively. Bucks starter Jack Nye allowed three hits and a run to begin the third inning, ending his day. Dylon Poulin came on in relief but didn’t fare much better. Poulin managed to record just one out and gave up five runs (three earned) on three hits and one walk. He allowed the runners he inherited from Nye to score, so Nye was officially charged with seven runs (five earned) on eight hits with two strikeouts.
When the damage was done, the Bucks trailed 13-4, and a mindset shift was in order. Potkay said the team needed to “take advantage of every single at-bat.”
That message was received.
“The mindset at that point, Potkay told us, ‘You just got to be hitters. The only way you’re coming back here is get aggressive, get mad and just play like it’s your last game,’” Rizzo said. “We came out there and we just played great ball.”
In the fourth inning, Herz doubled and later scored on a sac fly from Rizzo. In the fifth, Poulin’s two-run double cut the lead to 13-7. Herz then doubled home another run, and Rizzo reached on an error in the outfield, allowing a ninth run to score.
By the time the sixth inning began, the Bucks still trailed but the tone of the game had shifted considerably.
“We had a lot of momentum going on, and I just figured we had a lot of great swings that put up four (runs) before I came up,” Rizzo said of his go-ahead hit. “I just was aggressive, and I’m happy I was.”
Meanwhile, Hampton had taken over on the mound and pitched the final 4⅔ innings and allowed six hits but only two runs. He struck out three and walked two. With the lead in the seventh inning, he hit the first Monarchs batter, who was then bunted to second base. Hampton then got a flyout and a strikeout to secure the win.
“He’s a great arm for us,” Rizzo said. “We were all really tight that last inning, but Bryce was stone cold. He was just getting down to business and got the job done.”
Up and down the Bucks lineup, there was something to be happy about. Cole Smith finished with two hits, a run and an RBI. Hampton had two hits and scored once. Woodberry finished with three hits and two runs. Poulin scored twice and drove in two. And Herz scored three times.
It was an encouraging performance at the plate before the AA state tournament begins Saturday in Missoula. The Bucks will be a lower seed in the eight-team field, but there is belief in the dugout that despite a sometimes-down season, this collection of players is capable of great things.
“I’m just excited to see what we’re able to do during state,” Rizzo said. “I believe we can win the whole thing.”
No matter what happens during the tournament, though, memories of the latest and greatest comeback the players have been a part of will not soon fade.
“I’m a senior,” said Rizzo, who previously lived in Bozeman and is back after graduating from Poly Prep in New York. “I might come back next year — who knows? — but if this is the last time I play on this field, I’m very happy to leave it that way.”
Let the news come to you
Get any of our free daily email newsletters — news headlines, opinion, e-edition, obituaries and more.