The Glacier Range Riders’ bid for a Pioneer Baseball League title came to an end in dramatic fashion Saturday night in Davis, California.
The Flathead Valley-based team took a two-run lead into the bottom of the ninth before a three-run, walk-off home run by Bobby Lada, giving the Yolo High Wheelers an 8-7 win in Game 4 at Dobbins Stadium. Yolo took the best-of-5 series, 3-1, in its inaugural season.
Glacier (51-51) took a 5-0 lead into the fifth inning. Ben Fitzgerald hit a three-run home run in the third and Jerome Huntzinger had a solo shot in the fourth to lead the surge.
Yolo (58-43) was never able to score on Range Riders starter Ty Bothwell, who lasted five innings and struck out five. But the hosts came alive in the sixth with a solo home run by Lada and a grand slam by Tanner Smith.
With the score knotted at 5-5 in the seventh, Glacier again seized the lead with a pair of runs on a Fitzgerald two-run home run. That set the stage for Lada’s dramatic shot in the ninth off Noah Owen.
Glacier finished with 13 hits to 12 for Yolo. Fitzgerald had a game-high three hits and five RBIs.
Billy Horton, who managed the Billings Mustangs in 2023, served as skipper for the High Wheelers. This year marked the second in a row he led a team to the PBL championship series and Saturday’s win clinched his first title.
The Range Riders have been in the PBL since 2022 but this year was the first they competed in postseason play.