A four game win streak at home, that’s a great weekend any way you spin it. The Riverton Raiders won the annual Roy Peck Wooden Bat Tournament in games played Saturday and Sunday at Roy Peck Field to win the 2022 edition of the annual event.
In opening round action the Raiders walloped Rawlins 17-1 before edging Green River 2-0 in the late game. On Sunday they faced the Lovell Mustangs twice, narrowly defeating the Big Horn County team in both games by one run.
In the morning contest Nathan Hutchison scored on a wild pitch to earn the win 7-6 then Hutchison repeated the effort in the final game of the tournament with a walk off to deep right field that scored Branson Saltsgaver and Christopher Reinig. The Raiders trailed 6-5 when Hutchison hit the game winning blast.
The four-game win streak moves the Raiders to 5-6 overall on the season.
In the title game Riverton scored early, putting four runs on the board on singles by Carter Noseep and Joel Bevers with a double by Hutchison. Spaced between the hits were four walks, with Christopher Reinig, Hunter Hauck, Brayden Baker and Ryan Cox all reaching base on balls.
With just one out in the inning and the bases loaded, it looked like more runs were in store but Saltsgaver grounded into a double-play at second and the inning came to a close. So did the Riverton scoring until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Lovell took a 5-4 lead on three runs in the top of the second and that’s where the score remained until Saltsgaver and Reinig scored on Hutchison’s triple to win the game.
The early game Sunday was error plagued with Riverton muffing the ball four times, and Lovell three.
With Riverton leading 4-3 after two innings the game boiled down to a pitcher’s duel between Hunter Hauck and James of Lovell. Hauck threw 100 pitches before Hutchison came on in relief with nine strike outs. James threw 102 pitches before retiring late in the game.
Riverton built a 6-3 lead after the fourth inning, but the Mustangs answered with three in the top of the sixth to tie the game at 6-6.
In the bottom of the seventh and final inning Hutchison opened on a line drive to left for a single. Beau Anderson advanced Hutchison to third on a one-hop single to center field.
With runners on the corners, Lovell pitcher Noah Krebbs threw a wild pitch into the backstop and Hutchison raced home for the winning score.
Lovell 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 – 5 9 1
Riverton 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 – 6 7 0
Riverton Raiders – Joel Bevers 1-4 S, Christopher Reinig 1-3 S, Nathan Hutchison 2-3 2B,3B Hunter Hauck 0-2, Carter Noseep 1-3 S, Brayden Baker 0-2, Beau Anderson 0-3, Ryan Cox 1-2 S, Branson Saltsgaver 1-3 2B. Totals 7-25
Lovell Mustangs – Hedges 2-3 2S, Wright 0-4, Rodriguez 2-2 2S, Christensen 0-4, James 1-1 2B, Minemeyer 0-4, Pickett 3-4 3S, Jackson 0-3, Bischoff 1-3 S. Totals 9-28
WP – Beau Anderson (41) 2H, 2K, 2BB, Christopher Reinig (76) 7H, 5K, 2BB
LP – Hedges (25) 3H, 0K, 3BB, Jackson (85) 2H, 6K, 2BB, Pickett (9) 2H, 0K, 0BB
Lovell 2 1 0 0 0 3 0 – 6 5 3
Riverton 1 3 0 2 0 0 1 – 7 7 4
Riverton – Bevers 0-4, Reinig 2-3 2-2B, Hutchison 1-4 S, Hauck 1-4 S, Anderson 1-4 S, Cox 0-2, Blake Gantenbein 1-3 S, Saltsgaver 1-3 S, Bryce Mason 0-2. Totals 7-29
Lovell – Hedges 0-4, Wright 1-2 S, Rodriguez 2-4 2S, Christensen 0-4, James 0-4, Minemeyer 1-3 S, Pickett 1-4 S, Cooley 0-2, Jackson 0-2. Totals 5-29
WP – Hunter Hauck (100) 4H, 9K, 3BB, Nathan Hutchison (21) 1H, 0K, 0BB
LP – James (102) 5H, 4K, 3BB, Krebbs 2H, 1K, 0BB