The young Class AA team with new coach Jon Burnett needed a warm-up to find a starting point. And it came in the form of Class A Lewistown on Saturday afternoon at Kindrick Field.

The Senators dominated both ends of the nonconference doubleheader 19-1 and 12-1, giving Burnett his first wins as coach of the Senators.

"We ran a young team out there, and they rose to the occasion," Burnett said.

For the Redbirds (0-2), it was similar opportunity. They too are also a young team trying to find their way.

"We lost some key players off our state team from last year," Lewistown coach Scott Sparks said. "We are young and inexperienced. That Helena team is going to be going to do well. They are well-coached."

Helena (2-0) jumped out strong with the bats and the pitching and defense followed suit. The Senators combined for 19 hits in the two games, led by Matt Krieger with six hits, six RBIs and seven runs scored.

"It was a good day to see the ball," Krieger said. "We haven't had but a few practices. Our big thing was to go up there with confidence, and it helped."

Riley Chisholm had three hits and four RBIs, while Hunter Kirkpatrick and Tayler Carlson had two hits each.

Zach Spiroff with four RBIs and Kirkpatrick with three were the other big run producers.

"Our timing was pretty good," Burnett said. "I was happy about how we hit. I'm sure we'll see more offspeed pitching in the future, so we'll see how we adjust."

Carlson was Helena's first starting pitcher and he went three innings. He had four strikeouts and one walk. He was relieved by Hunter Sickerson, who threw two scoreless innings. 

Ryan Barrett struck out two in three innings in his start in Game 2. Dylan Steinmetz finished the last two inning.

The Senators allowed only three hits in the two games. The pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts and one walk.

"I was really happy with our pitching," Burnett said. "We always talk about, and tell our pitchers, to command the strike zone. And everyone did that today."

The defense had a few breakdowns, but there were solid play throughout, highlighted by a quick 6-4-3 double play.

There were four errors on the day with three coming in one inning in the second game, but the Redbirds were able to get only one run out of that situation.

"We work well as a team, and we have good chemistry," Krieger said. "We have each other's backs when we get in trouble."

Kyle Lee was the most productive of the Redbirds with a hit and a run scored. Cody Henderson and Noah Kirsch also had hits, while Hunter Schell scored a run.

"For us, we were just trying to get some at-bats," Sparks said. "We haven't been outside much with the weather this spring. I'm not going to lose any sleep because of (the outcomes) this early in the season."

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