Mustangs Take Back-And-Forth Thriller
May 24, 2025 - Pioneer League (PL)
Billings Mustangs News Release
The Billings Mustangs (2-2) returned to the win column with a thrilling 13-9 victory over the Missoula PaddleHeads (2-2) on Friday night at Dehler Park. The offense showed up in full force as the Mustangs put together thirteen hits to delight the home crowd.
Billings kept the trend going of whoever scored first wins the game as they got on the board on an RBI single by Briley Knight in the bottom of the third. That was part of a 3-for-3 performance for Knight, who added a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch to reach base all six times he came to the plate.
The PaddleHeads tied the score in the top of the fourth, but the Mustangs took the lead right back in the bottom half with a sacrifice fly by Ronnie Allen. The score then continued to go back and forth when Missoula took a 3-2 lead on a two-run single by Mike Rosario with two outs in the top of the fifth inning.
Once again, though, the Missoula lead would not last long as the Billings offense exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the lead for good. The inning was capped by a grand slam by A.J. Shaver for his first homer of the year to make it a 9-3 game. An impressive note about the seven-run from is that all of the runs were driven in after the second out was recorded.
The PaddleHeads refused to go down without a fight though as they started knocking the ball out of the park with a homerun in each of the next three innings. Colin Gordon hit a solo shot in the sixth and then Roberto Pena made it three straight games with a long ball when he hit the first of his two bombs of the night in the seventh inning to cut the score to 9-5.
The Mustangs would then add some insurance in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-run double by Cameron Bowen and a sacrifice fly by Jack O?Dowd, who had a three RBI night.
Missoula put up four runs in the eighth inning to cut the lead back down to a three-run ballgame before Billings added one more insurance run in the bottom half to make it 13-9.
The PaddleHeads threatened in the ninth inning, bringing the tying run into the on-deck circle, but Devyn Lopez came in and induced a game winning 5-4-3 double play to pick up his second save of the year and even the series at two.
Justin Fuson (1-0) earned the win for the Mustangs after allowing three runs over five innings, while Ryan Wentz (0-1) suffered the loss for the PaddleHeads.
The two teams play each other again on Saturday as Greg Blackman takes the hill for the Mustangs against Matthew Sox of the PaddleHeads. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm MT.
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