The Pioneer Baseball League is eight weeks down now and has officially reached the midway point of the season, with both the Long Beach Coast and the Billings Mustangs securing postseason berths for their tremendous early-season success.

Long Beach earned the first half crown with an overall record of 37-11, just a half game ahead of the Mustangs (36-11). Both teams earn playoff spots with Long Beach earning home field advantage for the postseason.

Despite coming up just short of wining that first half title, the Mustangs head into latter half of their season with plenty of momentum as they carry a current five-game winning streak and hold a 9-2 record in the month of July.

Billings’ terrific first half was paced by a high-powered offense that leads the league in batting average (.355), on-base percentage (.459), slugging percentage (.636), homers (104) and extra base hits (262).

The Glacier Range Riders (29-19) finished third in the first half standings despite ending the week with three straight losses against Ogden.

The Missoula PaddleHeads finished the first half with a winning record of 24-23 thanks to winning their final three games. Missoula ended the first half as the sixth place team in the standings.

The Great Falls Voyagers (18-30) finished ninth our of twelve teams to wrap up the first half of their season.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER HEADLINES

Leading that offensive charge for Billings has been outfielder A.J. Shaver whose batting average (.460) ranks second-best in the league while his 71 RBIs lead the PBL and the Florida native’s 21 steals rank as the 7th-most.

Fellow Mustang Charlie Muniz has been a headliner bat as well, as the catcher ranks fourth in home runs (16) and sixth in RBIs (61). 

Missoula PaddleHeads catcher Nich Klemp has also been one of the league’s top hitters as he ranks ninth in homers (14) and second in RBIs (68).

On the pitching side, Billings’ Julian Garcia ranks third in the league for wins (5) and fourth in strikeouts (53).

PaddleHeads ace Reece Fields ranks third in wins (5), seventh in ERA (3.59) and eighth in strikeouts (49). In Fields’ final two starts of the first half he threw 13 combined innings while allowing just three runs on eight hits with 14 strikeouts.

Glacier’s Zach Longshore has also been a key contributor on the bump so far this season as his six wins ranks second-most in the PBL and he ranks fourth in strikeouts with 53. Over Longshore’s last four outings he’s registered a quality start each time out, throwing 24 total innings while giving up just six runs and striking out 25 batters.

NEXT UP

This week the Mustangs will open up the second half of their season with a three game series at Great Falls followed by three games at home hosting the Range Riders.

Glacier will be at Missoula for three games before heading to Billings.

The PaddleHeads will be home all week to take on the Range Riders and the Voyagers.

Great Falls starts the week hosting Billings before heading to Missoula.