No matter what happens around the conference the next three days, Helena’s 18-6 record ensures the Senators will be the class of the conference for the first time since 2003.
“It’s an accomplishment to win the conference, but the state tournament is what matters,” Senators head coach Jon Burnett said. “It’s gonna be a dogfight. One through eight, everybody’s got a guy and they’re gonna give you their best shot…
“It’s an accomplishment to win the regular-season, but we’re not gonna hang our hats on that.”
“It feels good,” catcher Cole Graham said. “I think a lot of teams thought we weren’t gonna be very good because we lost a lot of seniors. It feels good to be No. 1…
“We came together as a team and worked really hard and just played our baseball.”
Pitching – stout pitching – has been the foundation of the now 46-14 Senators.
In 385 combined innings pitched, the Senators have amassed a 2.51 team ERA. All six hurlers with multiple starts this season have ERAs south of 3.75.
Will Lyng has been the cornerstone of that foundation.
The right-hander’s seven innings of four-hit, three-run (one earned) baseball in Game 1 capped a regular-season destined for the record books.
It was Lyng’s 10th straight outing allowing two earned runs or fewer, lowering his season ERA to 1.36 (16 ER over a team-high 82.2 innings pitched).
As regular-season ERAs go, Lyng’s is the second-lowest in Senators program history, behind only Rande Muffick’s 1.15 ERA in 1976.
Will Lyng 2023 Helena Senators right-hander Will Lyng completed the regular-season with a 1.36 ERA in 82.2 innings pitched. That is the second-lowest regular-season ERA in Senators program history, behind only Rande Muffick's 1.15 ERA in 1976. Gary Marsh
The Helena Senators secured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Class AA state tournament with a conference doubleheader sweep of the Great Falls Chargers on Saturday night. It's the first time since 2003 that the Senators will be the No. 1 seed at state. Ga
