Riders Vanquish Voyagers with Five-Run Eighth

Flathead Valley, MT. – The Glacier Range Riders (36-53, 19-23 second half) powered through in front of a massive crowd Monday night at Flathead Field, utilizing a five-run bottom of the eighth inning to move out ahead of the Great Falls Voyagers (45-44, 18-24 second half), winning 8-3.

Although his pitch count flew up quickly, Noah Barros had a solid start on the mound, firing the first two innings scoreless and recording four total strikeouts. In the third, the opposition found a way to break through with a sac fly and an infield RBI single that made it 2-0. The Range Riders quickly responded in the bottom of the inning when Dean Miller stepped up to the plate and shellacked a two-run blast over the right field fence to score himself and Brandt Broussard and tie the game at two. Glacier would take the lead in the fifth, when Eddie McCabe got plunked with the bases loaded, making it 3-2.

The game was stagnant until the eighth, when things went a little haywire on the defensive side of the ball. After Mike Biasiello had thrown two stellar innings, the Voyagers got runners on first and second with no outs. A perfect bunt was dropped down and fielded by Biasiello who tried to fire to third for the force. Although it was close, the umpire signaled safe to an eruption of boos from the Flathead Faithful and disagreement from the Riders bench. To no avail, Biasiello struck out the next batter, then handed over the ball to John Natoli, who forced Great Falls into a groundout and a flyout to limit the bases loaded, no out jam to just one run across.

The controversy clearly ignited a fire in the Range Rider offense as Ben McConnell came out first pitch swinging in the bottom half of the frame, singling up the middle to get on first. After he stole second, Drew Sims drew a walk, and Mason Dinesen came up with an incredibly clutch RBI single that scored McConnell as a go-ahead run. Dinesen then stole second himself, and Ryan Cash was intentionally walked to load the bases for the force at home. During the ensuing Brandt Broussard at-bat, a ball slipped by the catcher, scoring pinch runner Austin Bates, making it 5-3. Then, up came Dean Miller with the bases full after a Broussard walk. A Range Rider since day one, Miller came through again, rifling a two-RBI single up the middle, making it 7-3. He followed that up with a sneaky play on the base paths, getting himself into a pickle attempting to steal second, and eluding the tag enough for pinch runner Noah Marcelo to get home from third to complete the five-run eighth.

Nate Thomas would slam the door shut in the ninth, with none coming across during his time on the mound. Natoli would pick up the win, his first as a professional.

The Range Riders and Voyagers meet again tomorrow night for the penultimate home game of Glacier's season at 7:05 PM. Tickets can be bought at https://ridgerunbaseball.ticketsocket.com/#/event-list or in-person at the Flathead Field box office starting at 5:30 PM.