EVANSTON — By the time this issue of the Herald reaches you, the Evanston Outlaws American Legion baseball team may have very well begun the season with six consecutive wins. The team faced the Green River Knights on the road last night at 6 p.m., too late for our press deadline. 

The Outlaws are definitely winners of their first five games in a row, with a 10-0 shutout of the Rock Springs Archie Hayes Post 24 Sand Puppies in Evanston on Tuesday night, May 15.

“Our bats are starting to come alive, as is the energy of our team,” coach Jason Lloyd told the Herald. “We’re beginning to play together more as a team. But the best thing is their confidence is growing at the plate.”

Lloyd alluded to the Outlaws improvement versus both faster and slower pitching, as the team was struggling somewhat with the latter in earlier games, when referring to gaining confidence in hitting. Most of the offensive production came about in the first two innings of the five-inning affair.

Griffen Mitchell drove in the first score on a double in Evanston’s first series of at-bats. The Outlaws exploded for five more runs in the second inning behind the bats of Mitchell, Reid Gross and Jagger Mitchell. 

Griffen Mitchell led the Outlaws at the plate, going 3-4 on the night, with Seth Lloyd connecting on two of his four plate appearances and Jagger Mitchell driving in two runs.

Ryan Fisher threw the first three innings for the Outlaws, allowing just two hits while striking out five. Kimball Madsen completed the final two innings in relief for the shutout.

The Outlaws have combined for 62 runs in their first five games while yielding just 12, but the season is very young. Three of their victories have come at the expense of Rock Springs and two against Green River.

Playing the two neighboring teams from Sweetwater County is business as usual for the month of May for Outlaws baseball, but the schedule will evolve to include competition from Utah, once the Beehive State high school season comes to close.

“Right now, they’re competing in their high school state tournaments, but once that is finished, we can go that direction,” Lloyd said.

Evanston will see some unfamiliar competition this Saturday and Sunday in a tournament hosted by the Jackson Giants. On Saturday morning, the Outlaws will again square off against the Rock Springs Sand Puppies at 10:30. At 3 p.m., Evanston and a Three Forks, Montana, team will do battle.

Sunday’s tournament schedule has the Outlaws pitted against the Cody Cubs at 1:30 p.m., before closing out the tournament with the host Jackson Giants at 6 p.m. 

Coach Lloyd anticipates stiffer competition in the first tourney of the year. 

“The kids are excited to get out of town and play some baseball. We’ll see some slightly better competition this weekend,” Lloyd said, adding he’s not as concerned with the win-loss column but, rather, focused on being competitive and showing improvement over the course of the weekend tournament action.