Reese Alexiades hit his league-leading 27th home run, adding to his single-season franchise record, and the Ogden Raptors won their fourth straight game in an 11-7 decision Friday night at Idaho Falls.

The two teams finish the regular season at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

Brock Gilliam threw well in his final regular-season start for Ogden (49-46, 18-29), allowing one earned run on five hits in five innings.

The Raptors got out to a 6-2 lead thanks to three homers in the fourth inning: Logan Williams hit a two-run blast, and Alexiades and Jonathan Soto added solo homers.

Idaho Falls (34-60, 18-28) tied it 6-6 when Matthew Hess entered in relief for Ogden and allowed four runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by a two-run double by Chukars outfielder Trevor Halsema.

The Raptors got it all back plus one in the top of the eighth after Josh Broughton hit a double and Idaho Falls decided to intentionally walk Alexiades with one out in a tie game. That set up Soto, Landen Barns and Nick Ultsch with consecutive RBI singles. Dakota Conners finished the five-run inning with a two-RBI double.

Dan Kubiuk pitched a scoreless ninth for the Raptors.

Ogden totaled 16 hits, with seven different players tallying two hits. Barns led with three RBIs, while Williams, Soto and Conners each had two.

While the South Divisional playoff series is set between Ogden and Rocky Mountain (48-46), the North Division’s drama continued.

Billings (50-45) beat Northern Colorado in a Knockout Round derby while Glacier (54-41) handily defeated Missoula (65-29). That puts Billings a half-game ahead of Missoula, already in the playoffs as first-half champs, in the second-half standings.

Had Glacier lost Friday and then again Saturday, Billings could not have overcome Missoula and the second playoff berth would go to Glacier, who has the second-best overall record.

So instead, a Billings win Saturday would get the Mustangs into the playoffs (and would cap a furious rally of 17 wins in their final 19 games). If Billings loses, it still makes the playoffs with a Glacier win. If Glacier loses and Billings loses, Glacier gets the playoff spot.

Ogden and Rocky Mountain begin their series Monday, Sept. 11, in Colorado Springs. Ogden hosts Games 2 (and 3, if necessary) on Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 13-14.

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