When it comes to contenders in the Pioneer Baseball League (PBL), two teams stood above the rest: the Billings Mustangs and the Long Beach Coast.
The Coast was the first team to punch their ticket to the playoffs after securing a top-two record in the first half of the season on July 7. The Mustangs clinched their playoff berth the next night, leaving the league’s other 10 teams in the dust.
Although Billings played one fewer game than the Coast, both squads ended with 67 regular-season wins. No other team reached 60.
There were no regular-season meetings between the Mustangs and Coast, but it’s only fitting these two titans meet at the top for the PBL title. The 2026 PBL champion will be decided by a best-of-three series beginning Tuesday night in Long Beach.
Goliath v. Goliath: Coast pitching against Mustang bats
The Mustangs’ lineup features dangerous bats swung by Jacob Gutierrez, A.J. Shaver and Cameron Bowen. Those three players topped the lineup card for Billings’ playoff games so far — and for good reason. The trio combined to hit for a .385 batting average, .440 on-base percentage and .637 slugging percentage.
“They’ve got a very good offense, but if you don’t walk people, they have to earn every run they get,” Coast manager Troy Percival said during Monday’s media day availability. “When we get up there, we have to really focus on no free passes and understand there’s going to be balls that leave the ballpark.”
Percival is wise to emphasize the prevention of walks. As supreme as Billings’ offense is, their walk rate is right in line with the PBL average of 13.3%. Percival acknowledged it’s hard to make comparisons when the Mustangs play in a smaller ballpark 3,150 feet above sea level while the Coast plays in a larger field at sea level.
No other team is more equipped to handle the force of the Mustangs’ bats. The Coast set the standard this season of keeping hitters at bay, evidenced by their league-leading 5.31 earned run average and 1.59 walks and hits per inning pitched this year. In the offense-friendly PBL environment, Blair Field can be a humbling experience, which their first-round opponent, the Modesto Roadsters, can attest to.
In 84 games away from Long Beach, the Roadsters averaged 9.4 runs per game. That run-scoring average dropped down to 3.6 when matched against the Coast.
As far as attacking the Mustangs’ hitters, Coast pitching coach Jerome Williams is teaching his arms to focus on what has worked for them instead of targeting the batters’ weaknesses.
“Pitch to your strengths, that’s all I can say,” Williams said. “If we can limit those free passes and execute, I think we have a great chance of winning this series.”
Nathan Hemmerling will start for the Coast’s first championship appearance. The California Baptist product has been dependable all season and got through most of Game 2, pitching 6 ⅓ innings while striking out five and allowing just one walk.
The five hits and four runs that followed, Hemmerling isn’t dwelling on.
“I’m just going to do the same thing I’ve been doing all year,” he said. “Focus on getting first-pitch strikes, just trying to keep us in the ballgame as long as we can.”
Game 1 winner Nick Bautista is also expected to start again. The former MLB draft pick out of Cypress College allowed just one earned run and struck out seven in a 96-pitch outing that lasted 6 ⅓ innings.
Coast offense aided by additional firepower
The Coast also possesses a formidable offense to provide ample run support for their pitchers. One of the components is first-round series hero Benjamin Rosengard, who has been a welcome addition since his Coast debut on July 24.
While he doesn’t hit for power, Rosengard has an uncanny ability to capitalize on the defensive gaps. He showed that skill against Modesto, going 6-for-11with 3 RBIs in the first round. He hopes to carry that momentum to the Championship Series.
“There’s some adrenaline and obviously, it’s meaningful baseball and that’s the most exciting type of baseball to play,” Rosengard said. “That carries into the playoffs and it carries into a championship series, back to where some of us were last year and didn’t get to finish the job so obviously want to come in this time and do what we can to get two more wins.”
Rosengard played for the Idaho Falls Chukars last season, losing the 2025 Championship Series (2-3), and set the PBL single-season batting average record, hitting .463. That play earned him a contract with the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League to start 2026 before he was traded to the Coast.
More notably, Rosengard represented Israel in this year’s World Baseball Classic and played against countries with star-studded lineups like the Dominican Republic and eventual champion Venezuela. After missing the team’s first champagne celebration when they clinched the playoffs, Rosengard is setting his sights on another celebration.
“Anytime there’s champagne involved, something good happens,” he said. “So you get a little taste of it, which is fun, but we also understand that the job isn’t finished and the most important and hardest three games of the year are ahead of us.”
Another emerging bat is Cooper Vest. With 14 home runs during the season, Vest wasn’t one of the team’s biggest power threats, but brought the lumber during the Coast’s playoff start. Vest provided instant offense, slugging two home runs in the first-round series.
He’s also settled into his new spot in right field during the playoffs after playing first base during the regular season. His defensive versatility peaked when he gunned down a runner at third base and one at home plate against Modesto.
“It’s been a super fun adjustment, fun change,” Vest said. “It’s a pretty long season, so to get to have some new stuff to work on late in the year is pretty fun, but I’ve just loved getting some help from [Emilio Corona], Eddy [Pelc] and Bardo [Matthew Bardowell], especially with right field at Blair. It’s been super fun to learn the new tactics and tricks and just get to help the team out.”
Regardless of what happens in the series, Game 1 of the Championship Series will be the Coast’s last home game at Blair Field, while the remaining games will be in Billings, Montana. Percival expressed his appreciation for the community support throughout the season, and asked that it continue in earnest Tuesday night.
“If I can say one thing, come out in droves,” Percival said. “We need the people here. I’ve had two of the coaches say, ‘My God, even when it’s half full, the electricity in here is the best palace in the league,’ but we need 3,000 people in here tomorrow. That’s what we need.”
Game 1 of the Championship Series will be played Tuesday at Blair Field. The rest of the three-game series will be held in Billings, Montana. Game 2 will take place on Thursday and, if necessary, Game 3 will take place on Friday.
Tickets for Game 1 can be purchased on the team’s website here.
Joshua Min
Reporter
Joshua Min is a senior journalism student at California State University, Long Beach and an assistant copy editor for the school’s newspaper, the Long Beach Current. In his first month with the Current, Joshua’s column “Future U ignores today’s problems, leaving ‘U’ out of the picture” won third place for Best Opinion Piece at the California College Media Association Awards. Aside from his copy editing duties, Joshua loves to cover sports and fill in to report on games whenever necessary.
