Miller Time Gives Range Riders First KO Round Win of 2023

BOISE, Idaho – The Glacier Range Riders (19-12) took advantage of five Boise Hawks (18-15) errors Thursday night to take a series-deciding game into the PBL Knockout Round with a 6-6 scoreline. In the knockout round, Dean Miller played hero with one home run being all he needed to win the game for Glacier.

It was a less than ideal start for the Range Riders who allowed three runs in the first inning thank to four straight hits for Boise. Glacier would get back on track, but in the third, two bases loaded walks put Boise in the driver's seat and they tacked on one more with a sac fly in the fourth. A clutch pitching moment came in the sixth, when Joe Kinsky inherited a one-out runners on second and third jam from Noah Barros but preceded to get a strikeout and a groundout to escape his way out of it.

Glacier started their scoring in the second, when Christian Kirtley hit a sacrifice fly that scored Kingston Liniak and the Riders tacked on another sac fly in the fourth when Nick Lucky got across Liniak. A defensive calamity struck in the fifth for the Hawks. A total of four defensive errors allowed three Range Riders to get across and cut their deficit to just one run. Gabe Howell scored on an RBI groundout, while an E5 allowed Miller and Matt Clayton to score.

Things got all knotted up in the seventh when Lucky worked a bases loaded walk to get Sam Linscott over the plate to make it even at six. Kinsky worked a three up, three down seventh, before Roy Robles got three strikeouts in a scoreless eighth. Finally, with the Boise crowd begging for a walk-off winner, Justin Coleman sent the Hawks bats up and down in order, striking out the side.

In the knockout round, Miller was elected to take the first hacks for Glacier and pitcher Pat Miner was chosen to throw to him. On Miller's third swing he catapulted a moonshot over the left field wall to force an answer from Boise. It was likely the happiest Miner had ever been to allow a home run. Casey Dykstrka attempted to answer for the Hawks, but on his fifth and final swing he drifted a would-be equalizer just foul down the right field line to ensure victory for Glacier.

This was the first Knockout R win of 2023 for the Range Riders and their first ever Knockout Round win on the road.

The Range Riders now ship off to Missoula where a three-game series with the Paddleheads (25-8) awaits them. First pitch is Friday night at 7:05 PM from Ogren Park at Allegiance Field.