PaddleHeads pull away, beat Range Riders 8-4
Glacier Range Riders starting pitcher Noah Barros (13) delivers in the first inning against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier's Dean Miller (30) steals second ahead of the tag by Missoula second baseman Ryan Cash (7) in the sixth inning at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier's Crews Taylor (32) rips a single into the outfield in the first inning against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier's Mason Dinesen (23) connects on an RBI single in the third inning against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier second baseman Mason Dinesen (23) throws to first after fielding a ground ball in the fourth inning against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier shortstop Gabe Howell (10) tries to turn a double play in the second inning against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier's Jackson Raper (14) connects on an RBI double in the third inning against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier shortstop Gabe Howell (10) puts the tag on Missoula's Thomas DeBonville (15) to complete a double play after a force out at first base in the seventh inning against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier's Matt Clayton (11) connects on a solo home run in the fourth inning against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park on Tuesday, July 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
The Missoula PaddleHeads just keep going, pulling away in the late innings Tuesday to beat the Glacier Range Riders 8-4 in Pioneer League baseball.
Keaton Greenwalt hit two home runs for Missoula (5-2 this half), and the normally very solid Range Riders bullpen surrendered three runs in the eighth inning and another — former Range Rider Ryan Cash singled and scored on a wild pitch — in the ninth.
Glacier (3-4) mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth, getting an RBI single from Christian Kirtley. With two runners on and two out, Mark Simon came in for the PaddleHeads and fanned Gabe Howell for his eighth save.
The Range Riders’ successful run in their second season has been tempered some by Missoula, which is 8-2 against Glacier and just won the first-half North Division title. The Range Riders are 32-11 against the rest of the PBL.
Matt Clayton hit his seventh homer for Glacier, a solo shot in the fourth inning that tied the game at 3-all. In the third inning Dinesen hit an RBI single and Jackson Raper drove in Dinesen with a double.
That came after Missoula’s Thomas DeBonville hit a three-run homer in the second inning, off Noah Barros (5-2). Greenwalt hit his 11th homer in the sixth inning and his 12th, a two-run shot, in the eighth.
Barros went six innings, allowing four hits, two walks and four runs. He struck out six.
The Range Riders get several more cracks at the Paddleheads this week, as this was the first of a six-game series at Glacier Bank Park. Wednesday’s game is set for 7:05 p.m.
PaddleHeads 030 001 031 - 8 9 0
Range Riders 002 100 001 - 4 9 0
Connor Schultz, Cody Thompson (8), Adam Purdy (9), Mark Simon (9) and Austin Bernard. Noah Barros, John Natoli (7), Roy Robles (8), Ryan Cloude (8) and Matt Clayton.
MISSOULA PADDLEHEADS — Ryan Cash 2-5, Jakob Guenther 1-4, Keaton Greenwalk 3-4, Luis Navarro 0-3, Cameron Thompson 0-2, Bernard 1-3, Thomas DeBonville 2-4, McClain O’Connor 0-3, Jared Askins 0-1, Patrick Chung 0-4.
GLACIER RANGE RIDERS — Crews Taylor 1-5, Gabe Howell 0-3, Jackson Raper 1-4, Dean Miller 0-3, Benjamin Fitzgearld 0-4, Clayton 2-4, Kingston Liniak 0-3, Christian Kirtley 2-4, Mason Dinesen 2-4.
2B — Raper. 3B — Kirtley. HR — Greenwalt 2 (12), DeBonville (7), Clayton (7). RBIs — Greenwalt 3, DeBonville 3, Bernard, Raper, Clayton, Kirtley, Dinesen.
