Riders win PL finale with wild final play
GREAT FALLS — Eddie McCabe drove in three runs, Austin Bates made a tag of a lifetime and the Glacier Range Riders beat Great Falls 4-3 in their Pioneer League season finale Saturday.
Four innings of scoreless relief helped the Range Riders finish 21-27 in the second half of the season, and 38-58 overall.
The ninth inning was scoreless only because of a wild play, with two out and the Voyagers' Michael Deeb on first.
Jake Malec hit a grounder to deep short that Glacier’s Mason Dinesen dove and snared. Dinesen tried to get the force out at second but threw the ball into right field, and the merry-go-round started.
Deeb kept going to third, then was waved home but was out: Bates made a leaping, twisting catch of right fielder Ryan Cole’s throw and in one motion got the tag down in a noisy collision.
That was the third out; the Range Riders spilled out of the dugout to congratulate Bates — as did Great Falls manager Tommy Thompson.
McCabe put the Range Riders up 1-0 with an RBI groundout in the first inning, singled in Brandt Broussard to put Glacier up 3-1 in the fourth and — after Deeb hit a two-run double for Great Falls — drove in Ryan Cash in the seventh with the go-ahead run. Then it held up, barely.
Yasnier Laureano (1-0), John Natoli and Nathan Thomas combined for four innings of scoreless relief. Laureano threw two innings in place of starter Noah Barros, who went five and allowed six hits, three walks and all three Voyager runs. He fanned four.
Thomas got his third save.
Broussard, who finished the season on a hot streak, had two hits with a double and scored twice. Bates had two hits and stole a base. Cole drove in Glacier’s second run with a double.
The Pioneer League playoffs begin Monday, with the South Division’s Ogden at Grand Junction Monday and Missoula at Billings the same night for the North.
Both are best-of-3 series; they switch to Ogden and Missoula for games two and (if necessary) three on Wednesday and Thursday. The two winners advance to the PBL Championship Series, at dates to be determined.
Range Riders 201 000 100 - 4 11 2
Voyagers 100 200 000 - 3 10 0
Noah Barros, Yasnier Laureano (6), John Natoli (8), Nathan Thomas (9) and Austin Bates. Tanner Brown, Conner Spear (4), Josh Gainer (7), Anthony Becerra-Lopez (8), Montana Quigley (9) and William Olson, Lukas Polanco (5).
GLACIER RANGE RIDERS — Ryan Cash 1-5, Brandt Broussard 2-4, Dean Miller 1-5, Eddie McCabe 2-5, Ryan Cle 1-4, Ben McConnell 1-4, Mason Dinesen 1-4, Noah Marcelo 0-3, David Kyriacou 0-1, Austin Bates 2-3.
GREAT FALLS VOYAGERS — Michael Deeb 1-4, Jake Malec 2-5, Breydon Daniel 0-4, Derek Kolbush 2-4, Collin Runge 2-3, Charley Hesse 0-2, Christopher De guzman 0-1, Aaron Simmons 0-3, Olson 0-2, Polanco 1-2, Fernando Loera 2-4.
2B — Cash, Broussard, Miller, Cole, Dinesen, Deeb, Runge. RBIs — McCabe 3, Cole, Deeb 2, Kolbush. SB — Miller, Bates. CS — Malec.