Liniak hits late HR, Riders hold off Vibes
Kingston Liniak hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to put Glacier ahead for good, and the Range Riders held on for a 9-8 Pioneer League win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes Saturday.
Liniak’s home run came after the Vibes (4-6) ate up an early 4-0 deficit at Glacier Bank Park. Brady West’s solo homer and Dusty Stroup’s two-run single put the visitors up 6-5 in the sixth inning.
The Range Riders (6-3) came back two frames later, getting a one-out double from Crews Taylor and a two-out walk to Jackson Raper to set up Liniak, who homered to left for an 8-6 lead.
They weren’t done: Ben Fitzgerald reached on an error and Matt Clayton doubled him in to make it 9-6. That run was important because closer John Natoli wobbled in the ninth, walking five hitters — the last two with two out, forcing in two runs — before the game ended on Casey Peterson’s fly out to left.
Fitzgerald (RBI double) and Clayton (2-run homer, his second in two nights) staked Glacier to a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Raper’s RBI single pushed the gap to 4-0. Liniak had an RBI double in the fourth inning to put the Riders up 5-2.
A night after the teams combined for seven homers in a 10-7 Vibes win, Glacier and Rocky Mountain teamed up for five big flies. Brandon Trammell, who drove in 12 runs in 12 games for the 2022 Range Riders, hit his third homer of the season for the Vibes in the fourth inning. Stroup hit one in the fifth.
Dean Miller doubled and tripled for Glacier; Clayton had four hits.
Glacier starting pitcher Rob Hamby pitched well enough to win, leaving after five innings with a 5-3 lead. He allowed seven hits and two walks, striking out three.
Roy Robles and Nathan Thomas were solid in relief, each getting four outs; Thomas got the win.
The Vibes and Range Riders conclude their 3-game set Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Glacier, tied for first in the Northern Division with Missoula (7-4), has a nine-game road trip after that, starting with six games in Billings on Tuesday.
Saturday
Vibes 000 2113 002 - 8 11 1
Riders 031 100 04x - 9 15 0
Ryan Campbell, Nathan Draves (4), Christian Scafidi (6) and Sonny Ulliana.
Rob Hamby, Joseph Kinsky (6), Roy Robles (6), Nathan Thomas (7), John Natoli (9) and Matt Clayton.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN VIBES — Milton Smith 0-4 Carson Maxwell 0-4, Casey Petersen 2-4, Dusty Stroup 2-4, Brandon Trammell 1-2, Ulliana 2-5, Nick Michaels 1-3, Joe Encarnacion 0-2, Brady West 1-2, Elvis Peralta 2-5.
RANGE RIDERS — Gabe Howell 2-3, Crews Taylor 3-5, Dean Miller 2-5, Jackson Raper 1-3, Kingston Liniak 2-3, Ben Fitzgerald 1-5, Matt Clayton 4-5, Ryan Cash 0-4, McConnell 0-2, Mason Dinesen 0-2.
2B — Taylor, Miller, Liniak, Fitzgerald, Clayton. 3B — Miller. HR — Stroup (4), Trammell (3), West (2), Liniak (1), Clayton (2). RBIs — Stroup 3, Smith, Maxwell, TGrammell, Encarnacion, West, Liniak 4, Clayton 3, Fitzgerald, Raper.
Vibes 10, Range Riders 7
The eighth inning was again big on Friday for Glacier, which put up four runs to cut Rocky Mountain’s lead to 9-6: Raper hit a two-run homer and Fitzgerald added an RBI triple, then scored.
That’s as close as the Range Riders got. Jacob Barfield hit a solo homer for Rocky Mountain in the ninth, and Crews Taylor hit one for Glacier in the bottom of the inning.
For Barfield it was his second home of the game — his 3-run shot in the seventh inning put the Vibes (4-5) up 9-2.
Vibes starting pitcher Christian Day was good, allowing four hits, three walks and two runs in six innings of work. He struck out four.
Dusty Stroup (4-for-5) and Sonny Ulliana also went yard for Rocky Mountain, and catcher Matt Clayton hit his first professional homer for Glacier — a solo shot in the second inning.
Friday
Vibes 022 011 3201 - 10 17 2
Range Riders 011 000 041 - 7 8 2
Christian Day, Caleb Sloan (7), Dutch Landis (8) and Sonny Ulliana. Patrick Miner, Luke Dawson (6), Andrew Holweger (7), Justin Coleman (8) and Clayton.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN VIBES — Smith 0-5, Maxwell 1-5, Petersen 3-4, Stroup 4-5, Trammell 0-5, Jacob Barfield 3-4, Ulliana 2-5, Encarnacion 2-5, Peralta 2-4.
RANGE RIDERS — Howell 0-4, Taylor 2-5, Miller 1-5, Raper 2-5, Liniak 0-4, Fitzgerald 2-4, Clayton 1-4, Cash 0-4, McConnell 0-2.
2B — Maxwell, Barfield, Fitzgerald. 3B — Fitzgerald. HR — Barfield 2 (2), Stroup (3), Ulliana (2), Taylor (1), Raper (1), Clayton (1). RBIs — Barfield 4, Stroup 3, Ulliana 2, Encarnacikon, Raper 3, Taylor, Fitzgerald, Clayton.