Birds Have No Answer for Mustangs

The Billings Mustangs score 14 unanswered runs to defeat the Idaho Falls Chukars 14-5. 

The Mustangs have now won four of their last five games and gained a game on the Missoula Paddleheads, now trailing the Paddleheads by just five games in the second half playoff chase with 17 to go. 

After the Chukars scored five runs in the first, the Mustangs answered with a four spot of their own. 

In the top of the inning, Sam Troyer drove a 3-1 count ball to left field that Taylor Lomack couldn't find as it went out of his glove. Troyer scored on the single by Eduardo Acosta, who went 4-5 this evening for the Chukars. The Chuks weren't finished, as Trevor Halsema had a RBI double to score Acosta, and Tyler Wyatt drove home Halsema and Mark Herron Jr. on a double, with Stephen Cullen picking up an RBI knock. 

After a one-hour and 19-minute lightning delay, Jacob Stobart closed out the top of the first without allowing a run. 

The Mustangs picked up a two-RBI double by John Michael Faile, and an RBI single by Brendan Ryan, with an RBI groundout by Blake Evans to make it 5-4. 

The Mustangs took the lead in the second on a bases-loaded two-RBI knock by Connor Denning to take a 6-5 lead. Three more runs would score on singles by Gab e Wurtz and Faile as well as a groundout by Emmanuel Sanchez to make it 9-4. 

Stobart would toss the end of the first  through the fourth inning throwing three-and-two-thirds innings giving up just five hits with four punchouts. 

The Mustangs added on in the fourth with the second Brendan Ryan homer of the season. They put one more on in the fifth on an RBI single by Denning. Mustangs led 11-4 after five. 

A lead-off homer by Faile kicked off the scoring in the sixth. Ryan drew a walk, and two batters later, Sanchez hit his first homer of the season to put the Ponies ahead 14-5. 

Meanwhile, McLain Harris tossed four scoreless innings giving up just a pair of hits with four strikeouts. Bryce Donovan, the utility man, tossed the final three outs in the ninth to secure the win. 

The Mustangs look for a game two win over the Chukars at 6:15 p.m. with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN 910/105.5 KBLG or ESPN910.com. You can also watch every pitch on FloSports.