Flathead Faithful Power Riders to Victory in Home Finale

Flathead Valley, MT. – The Glacier Range Riders (38-53, 21-23 second half) closed out their home schedule of 2022 with a narrow win Wednesday night, defeating the Great Falls Voyagers (45-46, 18-26 second half) by two runs in a 6-4 decision. A record crowd of 2,622 fans made their way into Flathead Field to see the final Range Rider contest of their inaugural season.

Things got spicy in the first inning when the bases were loaded by the visiting Voyagers, but Kevin Kyle pitched clutch, striking out the Great Falls batter for the third out of the inning to send it to the bottom of the inning scoreless. Dean Miller would then draw first blood when the Glacier third baseman hammered a shot to left field that escaped just beyond the glove of the Voyager left fielder, bouncing off the net in front of the scoreboard and back into play. After a brief discussion, the umpires determined that it did, in fact, go yard for a two-run blast.

In the third inning, it was Ben McConnell that found paydirt when the Glacier center fielder ripped a two bagger down the left line that scored Miller and Cash and made it 4-0. One inning later, Brandt Broussard brought home Mason Dinesen with a two-out single into center field that made it five. The scoring was rounded out in the fifth, when Dinesen forced an error out of the Great Falls third baseman that allowed Wofford to score.

Kyle had one of his best starts as a professional, hurling six innings allowing just four hits, zero earned runs, and striking out five. Yasnier Laureano threw a scoreless seventh, and John Natoli nearly got through the eighth clean before the Voyagers hit a three-run blast into right field to set up an interesting finish. After Nathan Thomas struck out the first two batters in the top of the ninth, the entirety of the record-breaking crowd in attendance rose to their feet to clap the Range Riders across the finish line. A line-out to Dinesen at short ended it in a 6-4 Glacier victory to close out their 2022 home schedule.

The Range Riders finish the season with 25 wins at their home stadium, two games over .500 in front of the Flathead Faithful, and they'll take a five-game home win streak into 2023. We can't wait to see you there, season tickets are currently on-sale at https://ridgerunbaseball.ticketsocket.com/#/event-list.

Glacier finishes off their home schedule with four games in Great Falls, with the first being tomorrow night at 7 PM in the Electric City.