Range Riders drop 2 of 3 to Ponies
BILLINGS — In a game with five lead changes and nine extra-base hits, a bases-loaded walk gave the Billings Mustangs the lead for good in their 10-8 win over the Glacier Range Riders Wednesday.
The Mustangs (7-7 this half-season) clinched a series win over the Range Riders (4-10), who lost a four straight game and are flagging in the Pioneer League’s North Division standings (Glacier won Thursday's game 8-6). The Range Riders held leads of 3-0, 5-4 and 7-6 before Billings put up four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Alejandro Figueredo’s RBI double tied the game at 7-7; Gabe Wurtz, Luke Fennelly and Mitch Moralez all walked, with Moralez forcing in Figueredo with the go-ahead run.
The wildness continued: a passed ball scored another run, and a wild pitch brought in another to make it 10-7.
The Range Riders collected two walks ahead of Dean Miller’s RBI single in the ninth inning before Matt Clayton — whose two-run homer, his ninth, made it 3-0 in the first — flew out to end it.
Christian Kirtley also hit a two-run homer in the sixth that had the Range Riders in front 7-6. Miller added an RBI double in the first.
Gabe Howell, Miller and Kirtley all scored twice for Glacier. Reliever Lyle Hibbits, added back to the roster Tuesday after he was released June 20, kept Billings scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings.
CLIFF NOTES: Glacier outfielder Ben McConnell cleared waivers on Tuesday. McConnell was hitting .279 and his 21 stolen bases ranked seventh in the PL. … Glacier released outfielder Sam Linscott (.259 in 17 games) on July 28. … Pitcher Rob Hamby (2-3, 7.49 ERA this season) has retired. … Range Rider additions are Oregon State pitcher Ben Ferrer and former Great Falls reliever Montana Quigley. … Quigley, who was claimed off waivers, saved 11 games for the 2022 Voyagers and had an 8.76 ERA in 19 appearances this season.
Riders 300 022 001 - 8 10 2
Mustangs 300 124 00x - 10 10 5
Michael YaSenka, Jonathan Pintaro (4), Luke Dawson (6), Lyle Hibbitts (7) and Austin Bates. Pat Maybach, Trevor Jackson (6), Hunter Schilperoort (9) and Brady West.
GLACIER RANGE RIDERS — Gabe Howell 2-4, Colin Gordon 0-4, Dean Miller 3-5, Matt Clayton 1-5, Christian Kirtley 1-3, Jackson Raper 2-5, Kingston Liniak 0-4, Mason Dinesen 1-5, Bates 0-4, Crews Taylor 0-1.
BILLINGS MUSTANGS — Mikey Edie 0-5, Taylor Lomack 3-5, Connor Denning 0-4, Alejandro Figueredo -4, Gabe Wurtz 2-3, Luke Fennelly 1-4, Mitch Moralez 0-2, Brady West 1-4, Emmanuel sanchez 2-3, Blake Evans 0-0.
2B — Miller, Raper, Dinesen, Figuerado. 3B — Wurtz. HR — Clayton (9), Kirtley (7), Lomack, West. RBIs — Miller 2, Clayton 2, Kirtley 2, West 2, Lomack, Figueredo, Wurt, Fennelly, Moralez, Sanchez.
Tuesday
Mustangs 11, Range Riders 6
John Michael Faile homered twice and the Mustangs pulled away in the late innings to beat the Glacier Range Riders Tuesday night.
Mikey Edie had three hits and scored twice for the Mustangs, and his RBI double capped a two-run seventh inning after Glacier closed to 6-4 on Benjamin Fitzgerald’s 10th homer.
With their lead 8-5, Billings got an RBI triple and a solo homer from Faile, his sixth, in a three-run eighth inning. Faile also homered in the second inning.
Fitzgerald doubled in a run, walked and scored twice for the Range Riders. Christian Kirtley hit two doubles and scored twice as well.
On Thursday the Range Riders started a 3-game series at Great Falls.