Now one of Lone Peak’s largest athletic teams, the baseball program anticipates growth and a new home field by 2026
By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Big hits carried the Big Horns to their third victory of the season on Tuesday afternoon, as Lone Peak High School took down the East Helena High School Vigilantes, 11-6.
Lone Peak is playing its second-ever season—baseball became a high school sport in Montana in 2023—and Tuesday’s win is just the program’s fourth in total. East Helena won the first matchup on March 29, 8-6, but the Big Horns brought momentum from wins against Columbus and Sidney in the week leading up to Tuesday’s rematch in Belgrade, where Lone Peak plays home games.
Sophomore Ebe Grabow kept the Big Horns in the game, pitching five and two-thirds innings in relief, a scoreless effort until his final frame. Grabow entered in relief of sophomore Oliver McGuire, who allowed four runs through the first inning and a third. Grabow inherited a bases-loaded jam with one out in the second, but pitched his way out of it with an infield fly and line drive to center field, caught by senior Aidan Germain.
Sloppy defense didn’t help the Big Horns in the early going, but they held the Vigilantes to four runs.
“We were struggling a little at the start with just overall errors, but then everyone picked it up. I just threw strikes, and everyone made the plays,” Grabow told EBS after the game.
The Big Horns had scored two runs in the first inning, when Grabow grabbed an RBI on a ground out, and sophomore Eli Gale added a sacrifice fly to center. The game remained 4-2 until the Big Horns broke it open in the bottom half of the fourth.
“We got down, things didn’t go in our favor,” said coach Matt Morris. “And in the past, we fold—give up. This was a great example of us fighting through that… That’s all we’re looking for from these guys, is that kind of attitude where they know they can win a game no matter what the score is at any point.”
With one out in the fourth, Germain reached on an error by the pitcher. Freshman Ryan Malinowski lined a single between third and short, and senior Keelan Grupe followed suit with a single to right. Germain scored.
A two-out error by East Helena’s second baseman would cost the Vigilantes six defensive runs—freshman Sid Morris reached on the error and Malinowski dove headfirst to score the tying run, and the damage would continue.
Sophomore Brady Johnson walked to load the bases, and with two outs, Grabow smacked a line drive single into center field, delivering two runs to give the Big Horns a 6-4 lead.
Gale extended the two-out rally with an infield single, loading the bases and prompting a pitching change. And up stepped McGuire, keen for redemption after a rough start on the mound. Redemption he got.
McGuire hit a deep fly ball, out of the left fielder’s reach. McGuire’s double cleared the bases and extended the Big Horns lead to 9-4.
“I’m just glad it got down and scored some runs,” McGuire said.
The Big Horns batted through the lineup in the bottom of the fourth, scoring seven runs—six of them with two outs—in their big inning.
Momentum swung. Grabow retired the Vigilantes in order in the fifth, and the Big Horn bats remained confident. Grupe walked and took scoring position on a wild pitch.
With two outs, again, the Big Horns capitalized. Morris pushed an opposite-field single down the right field line, scoring Grupe. Brady Johnson slugged a hooking line drive, one-hopping the left field wall and scoring Morris from first.
Pitching behind an 11-4 lead, Grabow stranded a pair of Vigilantes in the sixth, and finished the job in the seventh. He allowed two runs that inning and punched out the final batter.
Coach Rothing said it’s great to see Grabow on the mound controlling ballgames.
“Ebe has been our guy all year. He’s been throwing strikes, he’s been living ahead, living low in the zone… He’s got a calm presence about him, and the guys rally behind him,” Rothing said.
“We needed that win to move up [in the standings],” Grabow said. The Big Horns improved to 3-4 with Tuesday’s win and remain in playoff contention. Last year, they finished 1-11 at the varsity level.
Oliver McGuire said there’s still room for improvement, but this season has been promising.
“I can’t say I expected to really do that much better than last year,” McGuire said. “But I think there’s definitely a vibe that we can do better and can make the playoffs now.”
Coach Rothing called out Brady Johnson for his solid defense at shortstop. He gave props to catcher Eli Gale’s toughness, and said he can’t wait to see a strong guy like Gale manifest his power at the plate.
“Ryan Malinowski, young guy that continues to perform, continues to get the job done,” Rothing said. “Keelan Grupe [had a] big knock, scored an RBI on that.”
For freshman and sophomore players including Johnson, Malinowski, McGuire, Morris, Gale and Grabow, they see two or three seasons ahead of them and a lot of potential for the young program. Grabow said more field time and training will help the entire team.
“Everything will come together in the next two years, I think,” Grabow said.
The future of Big Horn baseball: home field advantage
In time for the current sophomores to play their senior season, the program should experience a major change: construction of a home field.
Big Sky lacks an adult-sized baseball field, so the Big Horns play “home” games at Edward Medina Field in Belgrade. But that’s a temporary arrangement—the Big Sky Community Organization’s construction of a multi-use turf field at Big Sky Community Park should allow Lone Peak to host opponents by 2026.
“For a Friday night baseball game in Big Sky, I think it would be well-attended and people would have a lot of fun,” coach Morris said.
“How much fun is that gonna be,” coach McGuire added.
Speaking at Wednesday’s practice on a softball field at Big Sky Community Park, coach Morris looked over his shoulder at the Big Sky Royals holding little league practice on the other field. He said the growth of baseball in Big Sky has been “awesome” since he helped get the Royals started, back when the current high school freshmen were seven years old playing T-ball.
“It was just one team, selfishly my son and his friends, and it’s grown into a whole Big Sky baseball organization,” Morris said. Big Sky now has roughly 60 baseball players across all age groups. The Big Horns program has 21 total players, and has quickly caught up to the popularity of football and boys soccer, Lone Peak’s largest team—soccer also continues to thrive across all ages in Big Sky.
“It’s just fitting that these guys are now at a level where they need the 90-foot bases and this bigger field, and BSCO and the community is coming up huge and trying to do that for us,” Morris said. He emphasized that it will be a multi-purpose field, not just for high school baseball but other activities that will benefit from a more weather-resilient playing surface.
“That turf is going to allow us to get out on the field much earlier in the season,” coach McGuire said—on April 24, the Big Horns practiced on real grass for the first time, even in such a dry spring. They usually practice at the school, where artificial turf melts and drains significantly faster.
It’s all coming together like clockwork for Big Sky baseball—the Montana High School Association began offering baseball as a varsity sport just in time for Big Sky’s pioneering little leaguers to reach high school, and BSCO was able to integrate field construction into its other planned improvements to the Big Sky Community Park.
For the players, it’s more simply a privilege.
“I’m happy to be able to still play baseball,” Oliver McGuire said.
The Big Horns have won three of their past four games, and Tuesday’s win was the third in eight days.
“The guys are gelling, we’re laughing, we’re having fun,” coach Rothing said. He looked over at Lone Peak’s largest spring team, warming up to practice a high school sport that did not exist two years ago. “So it’s really cool to see that the guys want to come out and be a part of what we’re doing out here.”
