Glasgow Reds Take Terry Jablonski Tournament Title

The Glasgow Reds returned home from Dickinson, ND, site of the weekend's Terry Jablonski Tournament, with a quartet of victories to their name and a trophy to show for their efforts; Saturday's 15-5 drubbing at the hands of the Dickinson Roughriders, the tournament's host, was bookended by Thursday and Friday's respective wins over Spearfish, S.D., and Regina, Sask. and a sweep of Sunday's twinbill over Billings and Lewistown to seal the title.

At last weekend's Lewistown tournament, the Reds fell to the same Roughriders team in the championship, albeit by a one-run margin. Saturday's game, however, was a mere formality for Glasgow, as the previous two days' wins had already sealed their advancement from pool play into the Championship Bracket.

"[The guys] understood the situation going in," said coach Jack Sprague, before adding that perhaps the wide margin of defeat roused the team's collective drive into a sharper focus for Sunday's matchups.

The Glaswegians pipped Spearfish 4-2 on Thursday morning behind two hits apiece from Jason Thibault and Cutter Kolstad, and 6.2 stingy innings from Kasey Seyfert. After falling behind by two runs in the top half of the first, the Reds plated three in the bottom of the third to leap back into the lead. A two-out single from Kolstad in the fifth doubled the advantage. Thibault, who relieved Seyfert on the mound in the seventh, recorded a three-pitch strikeout to notch the save.

Friday's game against Regina saw the Reds spot their opponents a first-inning lead once again; the Angels' first seven batters reached base before pitcher Ryan Padden settled himself with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to escape the inning. After a quiet bottom half of the first, the Reds tallied 11 runs total in the next three innings to put the game out of reach. The final score was 12-5. Dylan Guttenberg and Keil Krumwiede more than atoned for their combined four fielding errors, the former going 3-3 with two runs, two RBIs, a stolen base, and a walk, the latter, 2-3 with a run, two RBIs, and two walks.

Saturday night's affair against the Roughriders was never close. Again the Reds gifted their foes in the first, this time with two runs on three hits and a walk. A second inning sacrifice fly from Kulczyk cut the lead in half, but Dickinson answered with 10 in the bottom half. A four-run fifth inning did little to save Glasgow from the ten-run mercy rule; the game was called with the visitors trailing, 15-5. Dickinson racked up 17 hits in the victorious effort.

The Reds responded to the prior night's letdown with two Sunday wins, both on the back of stellar pitching performances. Krumwiede lasted the full seven innings in a 2-1 win over the Billings Blue Jays, also driving in the game-winning run in the top of the fifth on a double to center. In the second game, Jason Thibault hurled an 112-pitch, one-hit shutout over Lewistown. Two RBI each from Krumwiede and Padden spelled enough pop at the plate to send the Reds home 7-0 winners."We kind of preach 'finish what you start'," said Sprague of the pitching. "We expect them to last the full seven." Sprague gave, however, that Thibault's performance in the finals was something special. "They couldn't touch him," he said. The lone hit Thibault surrendered came with two outs in the seventh frame.

Two Reds – Sam Schultz and Thibault – were selected to the all-tournament team.

Next up for Glasgow is a home showdown versus Lewistown, the first-placed team in conference play. "It's a big game," said Sprague. "We need to use our home court advantage, ideally...[and] start climbling up in the standings."