Welcome everybody to the Keeping Score podcast from the Daily Inter Lake and Hagadone Sports Network, I am Josh Amick. This week on the Range Riders recap, the bats go quiet, how a few innings of sloppy play prevented some winnable games and the team starts slow, but finishes strong, so without further ado, let’s get into it.

Tuesday the Range Riders faced off against the Idaho Falls Chukars for a six-game road series. In game 1 the offense couldn’t quite find their footing.

Gabe Howell drove in both Range Riders runs, while the rest of the lineup …

Welcome everybody to the Keeping Score podcast from the Daily Inter Lake and Hagadone Sports Network, I am Josh Amick. This week on the Range Riders recap, the bats go quiet, how a few innings of sloppy play prevented some winnable games and the team starts slow, but finishes strong, so without further ado, let’s get into it.

Tuesday the Range Riders faced off against the Idaho Falls Chukars for a six-game road series. In game 1 the offense couldn’t quite find their footing.

Gabe Howell drove in both Range Riders runs, while the rest of the lineup was stifled by the Chukars pitching staff and they won the first game 4-2. Noah Owen struggled in his second start with the team, allowing all 4 earned runs in three innings pitched. The bullpen pitched a shutout the rest of the day, but the bats couldn't get going.

Game 2, the Range Riders saw their lead vanish over the final two innings and lost in walk off fashion 5-4.

Tj Clarkson homered for the Range Riders and Christian Kirtley drove in two runs, but the bullpen allowed a run in each of the 8th and 9th innings, and they dropped game 2.

Game 3, starter Kaleb Sophy struggled as he gave up five earned runs and didn’t make it through the second inning. The Range Riders fought back from being down 8-3 and made it close as the final was 8-6. The bottom of the order struggled this game going 0-14 with 6 strikeouts and the entire offense was held to 1 hit over the final 5 frames.

Game 4 was a tough one for the Range Riders as the offense provided enough runs and the pitching staff did their job, but one inning of sloppy play proved costly. The Range Riders held a 5-2 lead heading into the fourth but committed three errors in that inning that plated three runs to tie the game. Every time the team scored, Idaho Falls answered back, and they lost the game 7-6.

Game 5 was my game of the week as the Range Riders erupted for 6 home runs, 19 hits and drove in 17 runs, their highest total of the second half and won the game 17-4. Ryan McCarthy had a huge game going 5-for-6 with a home run, his first of the year and three RBIs. Andy Atwood, TJ Clarkson and Kingston Liniak each hit home runs as well and for Liniak that was his first on the season since returning to the team last week. But the star of the game was Ben Fitzgerald who homered twice in the game, the second time he’s done that this week and it was a stress-free win for the Riders.

Game 6, jumped out to an early lead and held on to win the final game of the series over the Idaho Falls Chukars 7-4 Sunday.

Antonio Barranca and Chad Castillo each hit a home run and McCarthy remained hot reaching base five more times and went 3-for-3 on the day.

Utilityman extraordinar Jerry Huntzinger picked up the win after pitching 5 innings allowing just three hits and 2 earned runs. Ricky Tibbett picked up the save, after retiring the Chukars in order in the ninth inning.

That’s it for this week’s scoring recap so let’s get into a very light edition of in case you missed it.

The Range Riders have had a crazy amount of turnover over the last couple of weeks after starting off the second half of their season pretty slow. This week, the only two players they added to the team were Brady Held and Aidan McEvoy, both activated off the ineligible list and should help this pitching staff.

Looking ahead, the Range Riders face a familiar foe in the Missoula PaddleHeads. The PaddleHeads have dominated the Range Riders this season and currently have the best overall record in the Pioneer League by almost 10 games. My advice to the team, play loose and play confidently.

They finished the last two games of the series against Idaho Falls with comfortable wins and now you make the drive to Missoula for a three-game set against a team you are very familiar with. Your roster seems to be in place to finish the last 18 games of the season strong, so fight for the people that are in the clubhouse and get ready for the postseason.

The second half of the season has not been what you expected but none of that matters come September 10th or the 12th when the postseason starts. Also, at the end of the week there will be 3 of your final 6 home games so expect the fans to be out there to show their support and get ready for the first postseason action in the Valley.

Hopefully we will see a packed Glacier Bank Park for their three-game home series starting Friday and it will carry into their final three home games next week. For the Keeping Score podcast from Daily Inter Lake and Hagadone Sports Network, I am Josh Amick and until next time, take care.