Range Riders Win Three Straight to Earn Split with Great Falls

Flathead Valley, MT. – The Glacier Range Riders (27-44, 10-14 second half) picked up three crucial victories over the weekend, beating the Great Falls Voyagers by scores of 7-2, 4-2, and 6-5 to earn a split in the six-game series with their Electric City foes.

The boys looked good when they took to the field on Friday night in their Jammer Jerseys and they played just as well. Tanner Solomon got the start for the Riders and went a record distance into the game, pitching 7.2 innings while allowing just four hits, two runs, and recording eight strikeouts. Bret Barnett inherited a jam from Solomon in the eighth, but got out of it in just five pitches, before Austin Steinfort locked down the win by getting through the ninth inning clean.

On the offensive side, Eddie McCabe led the squad off with a big two RBI double in the bottom of the first inning to make it 2-1. The score line stayed at that until the bottom of the seventh when Ryan Cash brought across Ben McConnell on a single. Livingston Morris followed that up with a home run over the left field fence that made it 5-1. In the eighth, the Riders rounded out the scoring with a sac fly and another Cash single to ensure a five-run victory for the hosts.

FINAL: Glacier 7, Great Falls 2

It was another pitching masterclass for the Range Riders on Saturday night, as Noah Barros when through seven full allowing five hits, one earned run, and striking out three. Glacier jumped out to a lead early after Brody Wofford doubled to right field and scored Morris, then in the third Morris grounded into a fielder's choice but scored a run on it and made it 2-0.

After the Voyagers knotted it up at 2-2, Barros turned the game over to Nathan Thomas who pitched a scoreless frame and would go on to pick up his first professional win. In the bottom of the eighth, a passed ball on a would-be strike three allowed Ryan Cole to score a go-ahead run before Cash singled home David Kyriacou to make it 4-2. Justin Coleman decimated any chance for a Great Falls comeback when he dispersed the Voyagers in order to get the save in the ninth.

FINAL: Glacier 4, Great Falls 2

The Range Riders came back from being down multiple times on Sunday afternoon to earn the split in the series. A run was put across in the third inning by Great Falls, but it was answered quickly with a bases loaded hit-by-pitch of Drew Sims in the bottom half of the frame. In the fourth, Kyriacou had his first RBI as a Range Rider when he scored Mason Dinesen.

Things went south for the Riders in the fifth when the Voyagers pushed across three more runs and took a 4-2 lead. Morris took a dent out of that, though, when the outfield pummeled a ball 444 feet to left field for a solo shot. Controversy erupted in the sixth when McCabe was deemed to have not tagged a runner out at first and skipper Nick Hogan got tossed in the ensuing argument, and the Voyagers got a run back on a groundout to the pitcher. Down by two, Cash stepped up in the bottom of the sixth with the bases juiced and two outs. The second baseman cracked a liner down the left field foul line that went off the wall and scored two runs.

The game went deadlocked to the bottom of the eighth, where Kyriacou became the hero with a towering homer that tight roped the right field foul line and stayed fair for a Glacier lead. In the ninth, Steinfort came in to lock down to win and he did so in order utilizing great defensive plays from catcher Austin Bates, the shortstop Dinesen, and the right fielder Cole.

FINAL: Glacier 6, Great Falls 5

The Range Riders now turn to a six-game series at home against the Boise Hawks (22-50, 5-19 second half) who currently at last place in the PBL South. Glacier is currently six games back of a playoff spot and have just 12 games remained at home in 2022. Tickets can be bought at: https://ridgerunbaseball.ticketsocket.com/#/event-list or in-person at the box office which opens an hour and a half before all home games.