By: Ari Wohl

The Spearfish Sasquatch opened their 2024 summer season with a loss and despite the large margin, there were several positive aspects to take into the next few games.

The Sasquatch trailed 6-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth, before a six-run inning by the Spuds gave them a large lead, and they never looked back. The Spuds brought 12 batters to the plate and needed only four hits to bring home the six runs.

Walks and hit-by-pitches came back to haunt the Sasquatch in the season opener. Spearfish walked nine Spuds batters and hit four of them. In the big six-run inning for Caspur, Spearfish walked four batters and two of those walks came around to score.

After that six-run inning, the Sasquatch outscored the Spuds 3-0 over the final four innings. A bright spot out of the bullpen was right-hander Cade Bleeker.

Bleeker, the right-hander out of Mesa, Arizona, recorded the final 10 outs and did so without allowing a baserunner. Bleeker struck out three in a dominating 3.1 innings pitched.

The offense had their chances as well, totaling eight hits and leaving nine runners stranded. The 2-3-4 hitters in the order all had strong performances.

Second-baseman Ryan Bachman reached base three times, going 2-4 with a pair of runs scored. Right-fielder Braden Gostisha reached base four times, going 2-4 with two runs scored. And first-baseman Kyle Phin had a positive day at the plate, going 2-3 with two walks, an RBI, and a run scored.



The Sasquatch will look for their first win of the season on May 24th when they take on the Spuds for the second game of the four-game series.