BILLINGS — Billings Mustangs third baseman Chris Eusay loves to golf and he loves to fish.
But his first love is baseball. And, Eusay has a job to do as he hopes to land a spot with a team affiliated with Major League Baseball, and help the Mustangs to a Pioneer League baseball postseason berth.
Back home in Louisiana, Eusay enjoys bass fishing and in the summer “golfing is my thing outside of baseball.”
In Montana, and the Billings area, there are plenty of opportunities to golf and go fishing.
Eusay, who had never been to the Treasure State before signing with the Mustangs, said visiting Montana was on his “bucket list.”
And while he’d love to learn to fly fish for trout on some of the area’s blue ribbon streams, that will have to wait as the Pioneer League, in its first year as a partner league of MLB, features a busy 96-game schedule.
Eusay, 24, has found some time to sneak in a round of golf at The Briarwood and said he scored an 80 his last time out.
“It’s a beautiful course,” he said. “I love it.”
However, Eusay is here to play baseball. The fishing and golfing will have to wait.
“It’s business time right now,” he said.
And business appears to be good for both Eusay and the Mustangs, who both seem to be heating up at the right time.
Eusay had an 11-game hitting streak to go with an on-base string of 17 games entering Saturday’s Pioneer League baseball game against the Boise Hawks at Dehler Park.
“I’m just trying to have good at-bats and trying to simplify everything,” Eusay said prior to Saturday’s game.
Eusay isn’t the only Mustang with an extended hitting streak this season. Another streak that came up in conversation on Saturday was that of Jalen Garcia, a former Billings Scarlet and MSU Billings player, who had a 17-game hitting streak end earlier this month.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Eusay, whose hometown is Anacoco, Louisiana, said the success of teammates rubs off on other players.
“It’s definitely contagious,” he said. “Offense is the most contagious thing in baseball.”
Through 51 games, Eusay was batting .276 entering Saturday’s contest with seven doubles, seven triples and nine home runs. He had homered in four of his last eight games. Eusay had scored 42 runs and driven in 38.
The Mustangs were 5-1 in the second half of the season after a 4-3 win over the Hawks Friday, their season-high fifth consecutive victory. Billings finished the first half of the season 18-30 and hopes to earn a second-half division title and playoff berth.
Eusay has been with the Mustangs since the first game and has been around for the highs and lows of the Pioneer League season. He feels Billings has a team that is capable of contending.
“It feels pretty good. The first half we struggled and had a few more downs than ups,” Eusay said. “No matter who we have brought into the locker room, the new guys, we are tight knit, and the coaching staff does a good job of preparing us.
“We’ve got the makeup to do it now and have built a winning culture coming into the second half. I really believe it.”
Eusay graduated last year from Southeastern Oklahoma State, where he played baseball. After graduation, he played for the Indy Windstorm in a four-team bubble in Indiana.
He said coming to Billings was a good decision.
“I wasn’t going to get drafted and I wanted to keep playing,” Eusay said. “I didn’t think my career was close to being over. … They gave me the opportunity to come here and it’s pretty awesome.”
Eusay hopes his play will earn him a shot at the next level.
“I want to make it as far as I can make it and be the best player I can,” he said. “This is a great opportunity. I’m fortunate for the opportunity, no doubt.”
Someday, Eusay hopes after a long baseball career, he’ll return to Montana and complete his “bucket list” of things to do in the Treasure State.
“I want to make some long trips to Glacier and Yellowstone,” he said of the future. “And do some stuff on the river.”
However, “it’s business time” now.
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