Mustangs Snap Two-Year Drought With 6-1 Win

Mustangs (8-8, 26-37) end a two-year drought without a win in Missoula (12-4, 47-17) in regular season action defeating the Paddleheads 6-1. 

Luke Trueman tossed his second quality start going six innings giving up just a solo home run to Trevor Candelaria with seven hits and three punchouts. 

A Billings Mustang in 2022, Ethan McRae returned this evening and completed a nine-out save punching out five hitters over three innings. 

Candelaria hit the homer in the third, and the Mustangs responded in the 4th. 

Taylor Lomack hit his third triple of the year to lead it off, and Alejandro Figuererdo hit him home on a sac-fly to center to tie it at 1. 

A leadoff single by Brendan Ryan kicked off a rally in the fifth. He stole second, and a hit-and-run situation worked as Emmanuel Sanchez punched a ball down the right field line to score Ryan. Thomas DeBonville nailed Sanchez trying to stretch it to two bases, but the Mustangs led 2-1. 

Blake Evans kickstarted the rally again with a single to follow, and Mikey Edie hit him over to second. Lomack followed his first previous three-bagger with another triple to score both Evans and Edie and the 'Stangs led 4-1. 

Figuererdo led off the 6th with a hit by pitch, and Sanchez hit him home on a ball into left-center to make it 5-1. 

Meanwhile, with two outs in the seventh, Missoula Manager Michael Schlacht attempted to turn Connor Denning around to his weak side, and Denning turned on a 1-0 fastball over the left field wall that landed 453 feet away to give the Mustangs the 6-1 lead. 

The Mustangs win gives them the first victory over the Paddleheads in Missoula in regular season action since July 19, 2021.

The Mustangs attempt to pick up back-to-back wins Saturday evening against the Paddleheads for the first time since the season-opening series when the Mustangs won the first two of the season. Coverage starts at 6:55 with first pitch at 7:15 on ESPN910/105.5 KBLG, or ESPN 910.com. You can also watch every pitch on FloSports.