Mustangs score winning run in 9th to sweep Chukars

IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho Falls Chukars suffered their third straight loss to start the season Thursday night, falling to the Billings Mustangs after tying the game in the seventh inning.

Starter Seth Spencer handed a 5-2 deficit to the bullpen and right-handed reliever Ian Lanik in the fifth, after giving up 10 hits and five runs, four earned, in 4-1/3 innings. Lanik was rock-solid, holding the Mustangs (3-0) scoreless on one hit and one walk through the eighth inning. But a walk issued to the first batter in the ninth came back to bite Lanik and the Chukars (0-3) in a 6-5 loss.

Lanik was replaced by Brandon Ross after Billings’ Adam Cootway reached on a fielder’s choice, taking over in a tied game with one out and Cootway on first.

Following a wild pitch and intentional walk, Cootway scored when second baseman Garret Ostrander’s throw on the back end of an attempted double play sailed wide of the mark.

Idaho Falls put together a threat when Sam Canton doubled with one out, and Ostrander drew a walk to put runners on first and third with one down. But Mustangs reliever Nate Roof retired Mateo Matthews and Tyler Wyatt to end the game.

While Lanik was shutting the Billings offense down, Matthews, Wyatt and Ostrander teamed up to tie the game in the seventh.

Matthews, batting in the three-hole, drew a bases-loaded walk, scoring the Chukars’ third run while keeping a prime one-out threat intact. Wyatt scored a second on a sacrifice fly, moving Ostrander to third on the play. And Ostrander crossed on a Wild Pitch to knot the game for the first time since a Rayth Peterson two-run single made it 2-2 in the bottom of the second.

Canton stayed hot, going 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored, though he was held homerless for the first time this season.

The Chukars are in Great Falls, Mont., Friday night looking for a get-right game against the winless Voyagers (0-3). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

PBL standings

T1. Billings Mustangs (3-0)
T1. Glacier Range Riders (3-0)
T1. Modesto Roadsters (3-0)
T4. Boise Hawks (2-1)
T4. Long Beach Coast (2-1)
T4. Missoula PaddleHeads
T7. Oakland Ballers (1-2)
T7. Ogden Raptors (1-2)
T7. Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (1-2)
T10. Great Falls Voyagers (0-3)
T10. Idaho Falls Chukars (0-3)
T10. RedPocket Mobiles (0-3)