Tullar's 10 Ks Stumps Voyagers; Mustangs Win 7-3

Cam Tullar tosses a team-high 10 strikeouts to pick up his first professional win in a 7-3 Mustang victory over the Great Falls Voyagers. 

Overall, the Mustangs (9-14) tied a team-high 12 strikeouts, set by Mustang pitchers on May 30th against the Glacier Range Riders. The Mustangs have won six of their last eight, which includes five of their last six games. It's also their first road win of 2023. 

The win also pulls the Mustangs within one game of third place in the PBL North, as the Idaho Falls Chukars lost to Ogden today. 

The Mustangs jumped on Great Falls (6-14) starting right-hander Nikelle Galatas (0-1) for four runs in the third. Third-baseman Tyler Wilber hit a two-RBI double with the bases loaded to score left-fielder Gabe Wurtz and center-fielder Taylor Lomack. 

With two outs, designated hitter Luke Trueman lined a ball off Galatas to score Wilber and give the Mustangs a 3-0 lead. Then, second-baseman Casey Harford singled through the left side to bring home Wilber and the Mustangs led 4-0. 

The Mustangs ran into trouble in the bottom half of the third, as shortstop Colin Runge reached on an error by Wilber, and then Runge advanced on a throwing error by Tullar who attempted to pick Runge off at first. This brought center-fielder Ryan McCarthy to the plate, and he capitalized on an RBI double, blooped to the right-center field gap to make it 4-1. 

The Voyagers narrowed the gap further in the third, as designated hitter Jaylyn Williams singled, and an error by right-fielder Mitch Moralez allowed McCarthy to score. 

With one out in the fifth, Lomack doubled, his first on the year, to left-center field, and with two outs, Wilber picked up his third RBI of the night on a single scoring Lomack to give the Mustangs a 5-2 lead. 

With two outs in the fourth, first-baseman Lance Logsdon walked, to bring up catcher Trevor Johnson, who doubled to bring Logsdon home and give the Mustangs a 6-2 lead. 

In the bottom of the fifth, Tullar finished his night by striking out two batters to keep the Voyagers off the board. He finished his night tossing five innings, giving up five hits, one walk, two runs unearned, and 10 strikeouts. 

Great Falls got a run back in the bottom of the seventh, Voyagers' right-fielder Riley Jepson singled off right-hander McLain Harris to start the frame. Runge then singled with one out to advance Jepson to third. McCarthy then grounded out to second base to score Jepson and make it 6-3 - the final run the Voyagers would score. 

Harris finished his outing with two innings under his belt, giving up one earned run on three hits and he struck out one. 

In the top of the eighth, Lomack picked up his third hit of the night on a single to center. Moralez did advance Lomack to second on a ground ball to bring up Wurtz, who singled to center to bring Lomack home and give the Mustangs a four-run lead once again with a 7-3 score. 

Left-hander Hunter Schilperoort tossed a clean bottom of the eighth, giving up just one hit on a Hancock double, and struck out one batter. 

Right-hander Tyler Statler shut the door on the Voyagers in the ninth, facing the minimum three batters. 

The Mustangs go for the road-series win at 11:35 a.m. tomorrow for Father's Day matinee baseball. You'll find coverage starting at 11:15 a.m. on ESPN910/105.5 FM or ESPN910.com. You can also watch every pitch on FloSports.