High-flying Hawks soar past Chukars

IDAHO FALLS — One night after scoring 17 runs in a win, the Idaho Falls Chukars couldn’t find any offense in a one-sided loss to the Boise Hawks.

Nearly half of Idaho Falls’ offense came from left fielder and two-hole hitter Garret Ostrander, who went 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI as the Chukars (3-22) lost to the Hawks (17-9), 19-3.

Ostrander recorded his RBI early, singling to score lead-off man Ty Dooley before Boise recorded an out in the first inning. But that was almost all the offense the Chukars could muster.

After working around a bases-loaded, no-out situation to finish a scoreless first, starter Josh Leerssen (L, 2-3) was tagged with four runs in the second inning. Still, Leerssen got through 5 innings, allowing eight hits, four walks and six runs, while striking out five.

Lefty Sean Kelby, who signed with the Chukars last week, was the first man out of the Idaho Falls bullpen, holding Boise to one run on three hits in his 2 innings of work.

From there though, Chukar relievers struggled to get outs, and the ninth inning highlighted that.

Idaho Falls used three different pitchers — the last of which being catcher DeMarckus Smiley — to record the final three outs of the game, but not until after the Hawks scored 10 times in the ninth.

The Chukars will take another crack at the Hawks Thursday night, with first pitch at Melaleuca Field set for 7:05 p.m.

Current PBL standings
1. Billings Mustangs (20-5)
2. Long Beach Coast (20-6)
3. Boise Hawks (17-9)
T4. Glacier Range Riders (15-11)
T4. Modesto Roadsters (15-11)
T4. Ogden Raptors (15-11)
7. Missoula PaddleHeaders (13-13)
8. Oakland Ballers (12-14)
T9. Great Falls Voyagers (10-16)
T9. Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (10-16)
11. RedPocket Mobile (5-12)
12. Idaho Falls Chukars (3-22)