Mustangs use three homers to top Range Riders
Daily Inter Lake | Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 8 hours, 10 minutes AGO
BILLINGS — Donovan Ratfield’s early homer gave the Range Riders a fast start, but three home runs by the Mustangs helped Billings rally for a 5-3 victory in the opener of a Pioneer League doubleheader on Saturday evening.
Ratfield put Glacier (29-23, 0-4 in the second half) on the board with a solo shot in the first inning, his fifth of the year. The Range Riders scored again in the second, as Carson Hornung led off with a double and scored on Kyle Ashworth’s RBI double.
Billings (40-11, 4-0) answered right away as Adam Cootway launched his ninth homer of the season in the bottom of the second. The Mustangs took the lead an inning later when Nin Burns II tied the game with an RBI double before Charlie Muniz drove a two-run homer for a 4-2 advantage.
Glacier cut the deficit to one run in the fifth after Brock Vradenburg singled through the right side to score Carson Garner. Vradenburg finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the Range Riders. Hornung and Ashworth each added two hits for Glacier, which out hit Billings 10-6.
Cootway blasted his second homer of the game in the sixth to push the lead back to 5-3 and restored Billings' two-run lead.
The second game of Saturday's doubleheader was played after the press deadline. The three-game series wraps up Sunday in Billings at 1:05 p.m.
Glacier 110 010 0 - 3 10 0
Billings 013 001 x - 5 6 1
Zach Longshore and Donovan Ratfield. Cole Calnon, Mitch Dye (6), Lucas Hartman (7), and Charlie Muniz.
GLACIER RANGE RIDERS — Kyle Ashworth 2-4, Ratfield 1-4, Carson Garner 1-3, Brock Vradenburg 3-3, Tommy Rover 1-3, Jacob Steele 0-3, Joe McLaughlin 0-3, Carson Hornung 2-3, Jake Millan.
BILLINGS MUSTANGS — Cameron Bowen 0-3, Nin Burns II 1-3, Jacob Gutierrez 0-2, Muniz 1-3, Adam Cootway 2-3, John McHenry 0-3, Pat Mills, Bodee Wright 0-2, AJ Shaver 2-2.
2B — Hornung 2, Ashworth, Garner. Burns II. HR — Ratfield (5). Cootway 2 (10), Muniz (17). RBIs — Ashworth, Ratfield,Vradenburg. Muniz 2, Cootway 2, Burns II.