Knights compete strong at Pocatello Wood Bat Classic Tournament

The Green River Knights Legion Baseball team traveled to Pocatello, Idaho last week to compete in the Pocatello Wood Bat Classic tournament.

For the Knights' first game in the tournament, they played against the Stansbury Blazers from Utah on Wednesday, June 12. In the first inning, neither team scored. During the second inning, the Knights let the lead slip, scoring zero runs to the Blazers' two. The Knights then got on the board during the third inning, where both teams scored two runs. Next in the fourth inning, the Knights' scored three runs to the Blazers' one run, making the score an even 5-5. Finally in the fifth inning, the Knights' scored one run and in the seventh inning, the Blazers' also scored one more run. This caused the game to result in a tie, with a final score of 6-6.

Leading the team for the Knights was Zane Kovick with two runs, along with Oliver Akin, Travin Brown and Jace Paoli with one run each.

In the Knights' second game, they played the Jerome Baseball 18U team from Idaho on Thursday, June 13. Neither team scored in the first two innings. In the third inning, the Knights took off, scoring five runs to Jeromes' nothing. Then during the fourth, fifth, and sixth inning the score remained 5-0. Lastly in the seventh inning, the Knights scored one run to Jeromes' three. The game resulted in the Knights' win, with a final score of 6-3.

Leading the team were Oliver Akin, Ben Lail, Jace Paoli, Travin Brown, Brody Fuller and Dallyn Buschelman with one run each.

Next, the Knights played against the Wood River Wranglers Legion team from Idaho on Thursday, June 13. In the first inning, the Knights took the lead and scored three runs to the Wranglers' zero. During the second inning, the Knights again took off running, scoring four runs to the Wranglers' nothing. This continued in the third inning, with the Knights' scoring another five runs against the Wranglers. Lastly, in the fourth inning, with no contest the Knights scored another additional three runs. The game resulted in the Knights' landslide of a win, with a final score of 15-0.

Leading the team were Brackin Lail and Ben Lail with three runs each. Following were Kamden Liebelt and Braxton Doak with two runs each, along with Jace Paoli, Travin Brown, Jaydon Walther and Brody Fuller with one run each.

Finishing off for the Knights' fourth game, they played the Jerome Baseball 18U team again on Friday, June 14. The game started with the Jerome Baseball team taking the lead, scoring four runs to the Knights' zero. In the second inning, the Knights still struggled to get on the board, scoring zero runs to Jeromes' two. During the third inning, neither team scored. For the remainder of the game, the Jerome Baseball team scored four runs. This left the game resulting in the Knights' loss, with a final score of 0-10.

Head Coach Ben Lail said, "I feel the Pocatello tournament went awesome. I couldn't be prouder of our boys. We won two games, lost one, and then we had a tie, all against some good Utah and Idaho teams."

The coach added, "I think just being there and competing was the best part about it."

He felt the Knights are heading in a good direction and improving every game. The team is looking forward to their upcoming busy month of games in July.

"We're on a high note right now. And I'm just happy with the way the kids are performing," ended Head Coach Lail.

On Tuesday night, the Green River Knights played two games against the Evanston Outlaws, and they will be playing games this Sunday against the Saratoga Cutthroats.