Mustangs Can't Send Runners Home; Fall 5-2

The Mustangs could not find a way to send runners home in a 5-2 loss to the Glacier Range Riders Wednesday night.

Billings (3-5) got the scoring started in the top of the 2nd after second-baseman Mitch Moralez led off the inning with a single to extend his on-base streak to five games. A pace-of-game violation on Glacier (4-2) starting pitcher Noah Barros sent Moralez to 2nd base when Barros tried to pick off Moralez one too many times. First-baseman Tyler Wilber grounded out to 2nd base, which allowed Moralez to head to 3rd. Left-fielder Taylor Lomack grounded out to 1st, which allowed Moralez to score and make it 1-0 Mustangs.

Glacier responded in the bottom of the 2nd with a run of their own on a solo home run by first-baseman Ben Fitzgerald, his second dinger of the series. Glacier scored two more runs in each of the next two innings off Mustang starting pitcher Jalen Evans who receives the loss (1-1). Evans tossed five innings, giving up five earned runs on five hits, three walks and three hit batters. Evans matched his season high of three strikeouts, too.

The pace of play sped up considerably when Mustang 6'7 right-hander Tyler Statler came out in relief for Evans. Statler spun three innings of scoreless baseball,giving up just two hits and set himself a season-high four punchouts.

With two outs in the top of the 9th inning, right-fielder Conner Denning hit a solo shot to right field that just cleared the wall to make it 5-2, but it's not enough to pull the Mustangs out of the hole and they drop game two of the three-game series in Kalispell.

There were some bright spots offensively for the 'Stangs. Denning extended his on base streak to eight games, while center-fielder Mikey Edie started a hitting streak of three games on a 1-5 evening. Third baseman Tyler Wilber picked up his second consecutive multi hit night with a pair of singles to go 2-4 on the evening. Second-baseman Mitch Moralez extended his on base streak to five games, and went 1-3 with a run scored. While designated hitter Bryce Donovan has quietly extended his on base streak to six games while starting a three-game hitting streak going 1-3.

Left-hander Pat Maybach is scheduled to take the bump for the Mustangs Thursday to avoid the three-game series sweep. You'll find all the action starting at 6:45 with first pitch at 7:05 on ESPN 910/105.5 FM or espn910.com. You can also watch every pitch on FloSports.