Gray, bats lift CMR baseball to crosstown victory over Great Falls High

An automatic berth into the state tournament is in sight for the C.M. Russell High baseball team.

The Rustlers (11-5 overall, 8-4 Eastern AA) held off a strong effort from rival Great Falls High, putting together two big innings to take a 13-7 victory on Tuesday, May 12, at Don Olson Field.

CMR controls its own destiny to secure the No. 2 seed and second automatic berth to state in Butte on May 28-30 with two conference games to play.

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“Give Great Falls High a lot of credit,” CMR head coach Tony Forster said. “They came out ready to go. They had a pitcher (Oliver Braaten) that threw a lot of strikes and mixed up the timing on us a little bit and they played defense well for the most part and then they executed some bunts and kind of got things moving on the base path a bit.”

The contest was a far cry from the first matchup on April 21, which CMR took 17-1, as the Bison led 4-2 through three innings. Sophomore Kolten Kolve knocked in a pair in the second, with Jace Komac and Andrew Boutilier each adding an RBI.

Kayden Neil sparked a five-run Rustler fourth on an RBI double, with Madden Jensen, Carson Hollern and Roehrich Soldano all bringing a run home as well.

An error, a Rowan Garten double and Beau Carnes bunt for Great Falls High knotted things up at 7-all through four frames before CMR starting pitcher Gavin Gray locked in. The senior held the Bison scoreless over the final three innings with only one hit while striking out four in that span.

Forster said he was impressed with Gray’s performance on the mound, especially since it was only his third start of the year.

“It was a great outing for (Gray),” Forster said. “He’s mainly been a second baseman. He competed well. Some things didn’t go his way and we didn’t get some calls there but he kept his composure for the most part and just competed. He went right back in the zone and he did a great job today.”

The Rustlers took the lead for good in the sixth as they scored two on a bases-loaded Bison error before a four-run seventh for insurance, with Soldano plating a pair on top of a Hollern single and Jackson Maphies sacrifice fly.

“Our boys competed,” Forster said. “They stuck with the game plan at the plate for the most part throughout the game and we did just enough to score a few runs in the seventh inning there.”

Soldano and Dalton Heggem led CMR with three RBIs each and a pair of hits apiece, while Hollern and Neil each had two. Gray finished the complete game with two earned runs and seven strikeouts to three walks on the mound.