By Don Eskins
Down 6-5, in the bottom of the seventh inning, with Peyton Gold on second and and his older brother Wyatt on third, Billings Wildcat first baseman Duncan Harter drove a pitch up the middle to push both runners across the plate, Tuesday afternoon in Billings, to give the Cats a thrilling 7-6 come from behind victory over the Spokane Owls.
“I was looking for a fastball,” said Harter. “And I got one, right where I wanted it.”
With the win the Wildcats, who trailed throughout most of the ballgame, lifted their season record up to 3-6 while Spokane fell to 4-8.
Spokane jumped out in front of the Wildcats early scoring three times in the top of the opening frame of play.
Billings picked one of the runs back up in the bottom of the first, and another on a home run, by Trent Blankenship, in the third to close the gap to 3-2 after three innings of play.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
The Wildcats used the long ball once again in the fifth, this time by Wyatt Gold who drove the ball over the right-center field fence, to score three more runs. The Billings surge put them out in front of the Owls for the first time in the ball game at 5-3.
But the Wildcat lead was short lived as Spokane roared back in the top of the sixth to take back the lead at 6-5 sitting up Harter’s game winning single in the bottom of the seventh.
Picking up the victory for the Cats was Wildcat reliever Wyatt Gold. The hard throwing right-hander went just one and one-third inning. Shutting down a late inning uprising from the Owls, Gold gave up no hits, no walks and struck out two. Starter Luke Johnnson, in going five and two-thirds innings, gave up six runs on seven hits and four walks. He fanned seven.
Teaming up for the Owl loss were Tanner Brown, Myles Essick and Scott Ingersol. Brown, who started on the mound, went six innings giving up six runs on eight hits and six walks. He had fourteen strikeouts.
For the Wildcats, who have been struggling in the early part of the 2017 season, the victory was a big one.
“I loved the way our kids kept battling back, they never gave up despite getting off to such a slow start,” said Wildcat coach Drew Cherry. “I told our kids, after the game- that good teams find ways to win. That’s just what they did, they found a way to win. Hopefully we can use the momentum we gained here today to help carry us through the rest of the season.”
For the Owls, it was another close game that got away.
“We had opportunities to go home with a win today. But when you have opportunities and you don’t take advantage of them it can get you beat,” Spokane head coach Zach Leonard said. “We just didn’t get it done.”
“We have Clever, at home, on Thursday,” said the Owl coach. “Hopefully we can begin to turn our season around there.”
The Wildcats will be at Galena on Thursday.
Box Score
Billings: Wyatt Wilson 1-1, Wyatt Gold 1-3 (2R HR), Trent Blankenship 1-4 (solo HR), Luke Johnson 1-3 (2B), Aidin Harter 2-4, Peyton Gold 1-3, Duncan Harter 1-4 (Game Winner).
Spokane: Landon Bileyu 1-4, Trenton Stone 1-3, Chandler Brown 2-4, Tanner Brown 1-4, Luke Gray 2-3.
Scoreboard 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
Spokane 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 6
Billings 1 0 1 0 3 0 2 7
