Baseball Game Preview: Columbia Falls Wildcats vs. Hamilton Broncs

The Columbia Falls Wildcats will challenge the Hamilton Broncs at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Columbia Falls is currently enjoying a perfect season and no doubt wants to keep things rolling.

On Tuesday, Columbia Falls made easy work of Bigfork and carried off an 8-2 win. Considering the Wildcats have won three matches by more than five runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.

Nico Young made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits (and only one walk). Young was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.

Brady Matson

Stolen Base

04/15/25 @ Bigfork	2
04/08/25 @ Troy	2
04/07/25 @ Ronan	2
04/04/25 vs Whitefish	1

In other batting news, Columbia Falls let Brady Matson and Jory Hill run wild. Matson scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-3, while Hill went 2-for-4 with three RBI and one triple. Matson is crushing it when it comes to stolen bases: he's snagged at least one every time he's taken the field this season. Another player making a difference was Jett Pitts, who scored a run while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Columbia Falls hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least five batters every time they've taken the field this season.

Hamilton's found some homefield redemption this week after a overtime loss to Florence-Carlton on Tuesday. The Broncs never let Corvallis get on the board and left with a 6-0 victory. The Broncs haven't had any issues with the Blue Devils recently, as the game was their third consecutive win against them.

Columbia Falls pushed their record up to 4-0 with the victory, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Hamilton, they now have a winning record of 2-1.

Columbia Falls came out on top in a nail-biter against Hamilton in their previous meeting back in March of 2024, sneaking past 7-6. Will the Wildcats repeat their success, or do the Broncs have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.