LEWISTON, Idaho -- Hunter Williams struck out six batters and allowed just five hits in 6.1 innings to help the Bozeman Bucks to a 5-2 win over Lakeside Recovery of Bellevue, Wash., in the first round of the American Legion Baseball Northwest Regional tournament Wednesday at Harris Field.
Lakeside scored two unearned runs in the top of the first inning, but Bozeman controlled the rest of the game. The Bucks, who won their first Montana state championship since 2007 to qualify for the regional tournament, scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, two in the fourth and one in the fifth.
Alton Gyselman drove in two runs with line-drive single to right field in the first to tie the game at 2-2. Both pitchers cruised through the second and third innings, but Lakeside struggled with errors in the field in the bottom of the fourth, allowing Preston Fliehman and Kelher Murfitt to come around to score. The Bucks added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth when Finn Snyder scored on a Carsten Simcox single.
Gyselman was 2-for-3 on the day with two RBI, while Snyder was 2-for-3 with two runs scores.
Williams threw 96 pitches in a steady performance to get the win on the mound for the Bucks. Michael Freund got the last two outs of the game for the save.
The Bucks move into the winner's bracket and will next play Thursday at 8 p.m. (MDT) against Kennewick, Wash., or host Lewiston.
