Range Riders win Friday; lost to Missoula Thursday
Gabe Howell doubled twice and scored four times, and the Glacier Range Riders held off Missoula for a 9-7 Pioneer League baseball win Friday at Glacier Bank Park.
The win evened this six-game series at 2-2, after Missoula (6-4 this half) hit seven home runs in a 16-1 win over the Range Riders (5-5) on Thursday.
On Friday Glacier jumped all over Missoula starter Cal Carver (0-1), and wasn’t much nicer to reliever Austin Dill, though Dill struck out nine in 4 2-3 innings of relief.
Howell, who scored three times, hit an RBI double to spark the Range Riders’ five-run first inning. Matt Clayton followed with an RBI double, and two more runs scored on triples from Kingston Liniak and Sam Linscott.
Matt Clayton added a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and Jackson Raper tripled home a run in the sixth — important because Dondrie Hubbard hit a solo homer in the ninth to cut the gap to 9-7.
Connor Housley got the win for Glacier, coming on with nobody out in the fourth inning after Jared Akins and McClain O’Connor hit back-to-back homers for Missoula, narrowing the Range Rider lead to 7-6.
Housley threw two innings with no further damage, striking out three.
The teams play again at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.
Friday
PaddleHeads 011 400 001 - 7 11 -1
Range Riders 520 101 00x - 9 12 0
Cal Carver, Austin Dill (1), Lui Fuenmayher (6), Cody Thompson (8), Karl Blum (9) and Austin Bernard. Jonathan Clark, Connor Housley (5), B Ferrer (7), Roy Robles (8), Justin Coleman (9) and Matt Clayton. WP — Housley (1-0). LP — Carver (0-1). S — Coleman (6).
MISSOULA PADDLEHEADS — Patrick Chung 1-5, Dondrei Hubbard, Jakob Guenther 1-3, Keaton Greenwalt 2-5, Cameron Thompson 1-5, Bernard 1-4, Jared Akins 1-3, Jacob Kline 0-1, McClaine O’Connor 1-3, Ryan Cash 1-3.
GLACIER RANGE RIDERS — Crews Taylor 1-4, Gabe Howell 3-4, Jackson Raper 2-5, Clayton 2-4, Christian Kirtley 1-3, Benjamin Fitzgerald 0-4, Kingston Liniak 2-4, Sam Linscott 1-4, Mason Dinesen 0-4.
2B — Cash, Howell 2, Clayton. 3B — Raper, Liniak, Linscott. HR — Hubbard (5), Greenwalt (14), Akins (5), O’Connor (10). RBIs — Akins 3, Hubbard, Guenther, Greenwalk, O’Connor, Clayton 3, Howell, Raper, Fitzgerlad, Liniak, Linscott.
Paddleheads 16, Range Riders 1
Patrick Chung hit a grand slam and drove in seven runs, leading a 21-hit attack by the PaddleHeads.
Cameron Thompson hit solo homers in the second and third innings, McClain O’Connor hit one in the fourth and Dondrei Hubbard hit a solo shot in the fifth inning and a three-run homer in the ninth. Keaton Greenwalt also hit a solo home run for the PaddleHeads.
Glacier trailed 16-0 before Gabe Howell hit his 12th home run in the ninth.
Thursday
PaddleHeads 031 150 024 - 16 21 0
Range Riders 000 000 001 - 1 6 0
Alfredo Villa, Fuenmayor (8), Jestin Jones (9) and Bernard. Jonathan Pintaro, Luke Dawson (6), Ryan Cloude (7), John Natoli (9) and Kirtley.
PADDLEHEADS — Chung 3-6, Hubbard 4-6, Guenther 1-4, Greenwalt 1-5, Thompson 4-6, Navarro 4-6, Bernard 2-6, O’connor 1-3, Cash 1-4.
RANGE RIDERS — Taylor 0-3, Howell 2-4, Raper 0-3, Fitzgberald 1-4, Kirtley 2-3, Lucky 0-4, Liniak 0-4, Dinesen 1-3, McConnell 0-3.
2B — Kirtley, Dinesen. HR — Hubbard 2, Thompson 2, Chung, Greenwalt, O’Connor. RBIs — Patrick Chung 7, Dondrei Hubbard 4, Keaton Greenwalt 2, Cameron Thompson 2, McClain O'Connor, Howell.