Mustangs Lose Knockout Round

The Mustangs fall to the Northern Colorado Owlz in knockout round fashion. 

Jacob McKaskey hit four home runs in the second round to Patrick Mills' one home run to defeat the Mustangs. 

Abe Valdez got the Mustangs on the board with an RBI double in the second to go up 1-0. Casey Harford hit an RBI single to follow the at bat and gave the Mustangs a 2-0 lead. 

AJ Riddle did well through two and a third, but he gave up a single to Damon Maynard with a walk to Dave Matthews, Jackson Coots, and Dario Gomez with one out. Kevin Jimenez cleared the bases with a double to go up 4-2. 

Luke Trueman ended the inning and retired the next six batters he faced into the fifth. 

Harford collected his second RBI single to score Jacob Kline, while Abe Valdez scored on a wild pitch to tie it at 4 in the bottom of the fourth. 

Trueman kept it quiet through the sixth and into the seventh. Trevor Jackson ran into trouble in the eighth with a leadoff single. Dario Gomez sacrificed himself with a bunt, but reached on an error to put runners on at first and third. Jimenez hit an RBI single to go up 5-4. Two more scored when Euro Diaz hit a ground ball to Jacob Kline at second. Kline's throw home went to the left of the catcher, and the Owlz led 7-4. 

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Brendan Ryan checked in with an RBI double while Connor Denning, in his Mustangs return, hit a two-RBI single to tie it at 7. 

Daniel Willie tossed a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth to force the bottom of the ninth. Jacob Kline had a one-out single, but didn't come around to score. 

Neither Dave Matthews or Brendan Ryan could collect a knockout round home run in the first round, and then McKaskey hit four homers to secure the Owlz win. 

The Mustangs try to bounce back against the Owlz in game two Wednesday night. Coverage starts at 6:15 p.m. with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. on ESPN910/105.5 FM or espnbillings.com. You can also watch every pitch on FloBaseball.TV.