Byler blasts three homers for Osprey

Nearly 2 1/2 years ago, Austin Byler had a day at the plate he never thought he'd replicate. On Sunday afternoon in Colorado, swinging a wood bat and facing professional competition, he may have bettered that showing.

The D-backs' 11th-round pick in this year's Draft bashed three homers and drove in four runs to cap a productive series as Rookie-level Missoula thumped Grand Junction, 12-6, at Suplizio Field.

Byler entered Sunday leading the Pioneer League in slugging percentage, extra-bases hits, doubles and walks. He ranked second in on-base percentage and runs scored and third in total bases. Against the Rockies, he registered three dingers in a game for the first time since March 2, 2013, when he accomplished the feat for the University of Nevada against Holy Cross.

"It probably hasn't felt this good since then," Byler said of his work at the plate. "I didn't think it was ever possible to hit three again in the same game. Just being locked in and sticking with my approach, looking for my pitch is a big part of that. I'm working day to day on my swing, mentally as well, keeping myself prepared in a long season. It starts to be a drag. You have to come out with a lot of fire each and every day."

The 22-year-old first baseman already had a good series going against Grand Junction with three hits and five RBIs in his first three games, but Sunday reached a different plateau. Byler followed Luke Lowery's three-run homer to left-center in the second with one of his own to right. The former Wolf Pack slugger added leadoff blasts to right in the fourth and sixth innings.

Each homer came off a different pitcher, with starter Trey Killian yielding the first, Christian Talley allowing the second and Dakota Behr giving up the third.

"Most of the series, they've been going away, but ironically, the first home run was on an inside fastball," Byler said. "The next guy started throwing a lot of off-speed, so I made an adjustment, scooted up in the box and tried to get some lift on it.

"Third at-bat, I worked myself to a good count and got a good pitch to hit with a fastball."

It was the second three-homer game in Missoula history and first since Eric Groff had one on July 17, 2010.

"I have really high expectations for myself as it is," the Arizona native said. "Coming out of college and everything, I told myself to keep sticking to that day-to-day process and keep trusting myself. This is more than I could have ever expected coming out of college, to put up some good numbers and have some good swings each and every day."

Sunday provided a breakout performance from a slow start to August. After batting .375 in 10 games in June and .341 in 24 contests last month, Byler was batting .158 in his first five games this month. He called the weekend one of his best.

"There were a couple series toward the beginning of the year when I was pretty locked in and balls didn't get out of the yard, but it was more doubles or triples," he said. "I'd say this is up there with as much as I've been locked in in a series. It says a lot about sticking with your approach day to day. One day it may not work out, and the next day may be your day."

After dropping three of their last four games before the Pioneer League All-Star Break, the Osprey exploded out of the gate by sweeping Grand Junction to kick off the second half. Missoula outscored the Rockies, 37-17, during the four-game set.

"This was definitely a good series for us," Byler said. "Coming out here, we put up a lot of runs. It's something we can take out of here as a positive and try to get that offense rolling. I've had a pretty good approach all year, and [the coaches] have done a good job teaching us approach.

"It couldn't be a better day."