Whitefish Bulldog Baseball Punches Ticket to State Tournament

The Whitefish Bulldog Baseball team took to the road, Monday, to face Frenchtown in a State Tournament Play-in Game.

It was win or go home for the Dawgs as they would face off with the Broncs, the No. 2 team, out of the West.

Whitefish would rally for the 11-10 victory to secure their spot in this weekend's Class "A" State Baseball Tournament.

Picking things up in the 3rd inning, after the Dawgs had tied the game at 1-1 via a sacrifice fly RBI by Christian Schwaderer, Frenchtown looked like they were ready to pull away.

The Broncs would put together a 6-run 3rd, highlighted by a Kaden Blowers Grand Slam.

Whitefish would find themselves down 7-1 after 3 innings, with Frenchtown's star freshman, Dawson Rodoni on the mound. 

The Dawgs never gave up. Whitefish would score 2 in the top of the 4th as Tait Orme delivered a 2RBI Single to cut the lead to 7-3.

Whitefish would shut out Frenchtown in the 4th and the comeback was on.

In the top of the 5th, Christian Schwaderer would connect on a single and then Calvin Eisenbarth walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Avery Caton came to the dish and lauched a 3-run Home Run to put Whitefish down 1, 7-6.

Frenchtown would tack on 2 more in the bottom of the 5th to make it 9-6.

By then the momentum had shifted to Whitefish. 

The Dawgs would would put up a 5 spot in the top of the 6th.

Michael Miller would bring in one on an RBI double in the frame. He and Ryan Conklin would come in to score on a passed ball to tie up the game at 9-9.

Caton would step to the plate and his RBI single gave the Dawgs their first lead of the game, 10-9.

The Dawgs added 1 more in the frame as Connor Bramme would steal home to give the Dawgs an 11-9 lead.

Frenchtown would add one more in the 6th but that's all she wrote.

Whitefish claimed the 11-10 victory with CJ Thew putting away the final out of the game.

Whitefish advances to play in the 2024 State Baseball Championship Tournament, Thursday through Saturday, at Ogren Park (Home of the Paddleheads) in Missoula.

Whitefish opens tourney play, Thursday morning against Belgrade, at 11am. Catch the call live on KSAM.