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Helena Senators catcher Trysten Mooney throws the ball back to the pitcher after a Larry Sickerson called strike. Gary Marshall, BMGphotos.com

Senators sweep 4-game series

By Daniel Shepard Independent Record daniel.shepard@406mtsports.com, 06/14/21, 8:30AM MDT

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HELENA — Two more wins and a doubleheader sweep of the Billings Scarlets on Saturday night kept the Helena Senators rolling. Wins of 8-3 and 9-3 pushed Helena’s win streak to six games, all in conference play, and ran its record to 12-1 in the last 13 games.

Helena Senators catcher Trysten Mooney throws the ball back to the pitcher after a Larry Sickerson called strike. Gary Marshall, BMGphotos.com

Helena Senators catcher Trysten Mooney throws the ball back to the pitcher after a Larry Sickerson called strike. Gary Marshall, BMGphotos.com

On a perfect night for baseball in the Capital City, the Senators strung together back-to-back complete games in all three aspects: pitching, hitting and defense.

“Three great pitching performances [tonight],” Senators head coach Jon Burnett said. “Lots of strikes thrown, forcing the other team to put it in play, then allowing them to play defense behind them. Our pitchers kinda set the tone and we played good defense for them and found a way to score enough runs.”

Staring down dual doubleheaders this weekend, Ethan Keintz set the tone for the home team on the mound in game No. 1. Save for a two-run Billings rally in the fifth, Keintz was solid in his first start of the 2021 season.

He retired the first four batters he faced, striking one out looking. Over the next three innings, the right-hander struck out three more Scarlets, yielding just one unearned run in the second frame.

As the afternoon wore on, Keintz’s slider came to life. Despite running into trouble in the fifth, the two-way standout retired the final seven batters he faced — often going to his slider to do so. The result was a quick one-two-three seventh inning and a sub-100 pitch complete game for Keintz.

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