An Insider's Preview To Game 14 vs. Great Falls
PaddleHeads Look For Encore Performance After Game 1 Win
An Insider's View to Game 14 at Voyagers Stadium
Game 14
Missoula PaddleHeads @ Great Falls Voyagers
June 4.2025
7:00 p.m. Voyagers Stadium
Dawson Day vs. Luke Helton
Uncorked Offense
The PaddleHeads offense reached a new high water mark offensively in 2025 with an incredible performance in the opening game of a 6 game series against Great Falls winning 25-3. In the process, the team recorded new season highs for both hits, and runs in one game.
The offensive statistics from the Missoula offense were simply staggering. 11 of Missoula's 24 hits in the contest would go for extra bases. The PaddleHeads also would rarely let offensive opportunities slip, recording 13 hits with runners in scoring position. Furthermore, Missoula finished 13-26 as a team in at-bats with 2 outs recorded in a frame. There was nowhere to run or hide for Great Falls pitchers.
To cap it off, Missoula also had a nice night on the mound as well. Mike Peterson settled in nicely after the 1st inning and had his best start of the season. Reece Fields would follow suit with his best outing of the season out of the bullpen earning his first professional save in 3 scoreless innings. This was an encouraging sign of things to come for both players. It also sets up Missoula's bullpen in the most ideal fashion possible to start this series. Having had 2 nights of rest coming off an off day, Missoula will have a full complement of arms at their disposal.
Home Game Horror
Voyagers Stadium has not felt like home for Great Falls to this point this season in their first 7 games played at home. Tuesday's loss marked the 7th consecutive game in which their opponent has scored 10 runs or more in a contest. The Voyagers have also lost each of these games. Additionally, the slimmest margin of defeat in this stretch was a pair of 6-run losses to the Boise Hawks last week.
Opponents of the Voyagers are averaging 17 runs scored per game in games played in Great Falls to this point. Great Falls has been outscored by a tally of 119-48 combined in those contests.
Powered by Pena
Roberto Pena's 3 home run performance Tuesday brought Pena's total to 11 on the season in 13 games played. The 1st baseman has also homered twice or more in 3 games so far this season. Pena is the first player to eclipse 10 home runs in the league as the next highest individual home run total to this point is 7.
Pena has been far from alone in this category as well as Missoula has tallied 28 home runs as a team entering Wednesday. That is the highest team total of any club in the Pioneer League to this point. Colin Gordon, and Adam Fogel both also find themselves in the top 10 in the league with 4 home runs to this point. The total for Fogel is impressive considering he missed the first 5 games of the regular season due to injury.
Wednesday's Pitching Matchup
LHP #15 Dawson Day (1-0) (4.82 ERA) vs. RHP #38 Luke Helton (1-1) 4.97 ERA
Day's Last Time Out
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A Pair of home runs would trip up Day in the 3rd inning of his last start against Glacier leading to all 4 runs he gave up on the mound.
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Day would receive a no decision pitching 4 ⅓ innings while striking out 4 batters.
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The lefty did rebound in the 4th after the big inning recording a scoreless frame before departing with 1 out in the 5th inning.
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Day was spectacular in his last outing against the Voyagers last season striking out 14 batters in a game on August 29.
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That total tied a franchise record for the most strikeouts in one game PaddleHeads history
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Day was also sensational overall against the Voyagers in 2024 holding a 1.42 ERA in 4 appearances in relief and as a starting pitcher.
Luke Helton's Scouting Report
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Helton makes his first appearance against the PaddleHeads Tuesday after signing with the Voyagers in the offseason.
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The Indiana native made an appearance in professional baseball last season after the conclusion of his collegiate career appearing with the Florence Y'Alls of the Frontier League
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Helton spent his entire college career pitching at Morehead State from 2020-2024.
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In 56 career starts, the right hander would amass a 22-12 record with a 5.37 ERA in 317 innings.
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Helton is coming off a loss in his last outing on May 28 in a game against the Boise Hawks. He would allow 5 runs over 6 innings of work.
Game 13 Starting Lineups
Missoula PaddleHeads (8-5)
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#4 Kamron Willman 2B
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#21 Mike Rosario DH
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#7 Roberto Pena 1B
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#55 Adam Fogel LF
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#6 Alec Sanchez CF
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#8 Colin Gordon RF
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#18 Carlos Perez 3B
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#27 Taylor Smith C
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#3 Colby Wilkerson SS
LHP #15 Dawson Day
Great Falls Voyagers (2-11)
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#5 Armando Albert SS
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#9 AJ Fritz DH
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#26 Roman Kuntz 1B
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#21 Tommy Specht LF
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#6 Kody Putnam 2B
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#23 Freddy Rojas Jr. RF
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#16 Devin Hurdle 3B
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#22 Alec Patino C
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#10 Ryle Preece CF
RHP #38 Luke Helton
3 Big Questions Entering Game 14 Wednesday
1.What will the PaddleHeads offense do for an encore?
Tuesday was about as good as it gets for the PaddleHeads offense. There were contributions made up and down the lineup in a night to remember. I guess you could say it was an eclectic performance (pun intended). But that was Game 1. How will Missoula keep the good vibrations going? This team has somewhat quietly put some wins together as well having won 4 of their last 5 games. To me this is a real opportunity for the PaddleHeads to get hot. If they can continue this run of success, they can think about a prolonged period of home games that await at the end of this series in Great Falls. Missoula would love to go into that stretch with a ton of confidence.
On the flip side, Great Falls will need to find a different recipe for success and do so quickly. They find themselves in the cellar of the Pioneer League at this point in the season. Chances of being relevant in the 1st half race may begin to dwindle quickly if they cannot get themselves out of this funk. After taking Tuesday's result on the chin, it will be interesting to see what type of energy the Voyagers come out with on Wednesday night.
2. Will Dawson Day rekindle his Voyagers Stadium magic?
Day was simply sensational at the end of last season in his final start against the Voyagers in 2024 tying a franchise record for strikeouts in a game. That would prove to only tell part of the tale for the 3rd year PaddleHead as well as the southpaw would only allow 2 runs in 12 ⅔ innings pitched against Great Falls as season ago. Sometimes success and comfort level in a ballpark can go a players way for reasons even they do not understand. Clearly, Day will surely have some positive memories to draw back on thinking of his fabulous run a season ago.
The key seemingly will be to replicate what made Mike Peterson successful in his start in game 1. He attacked the zone and sequenced his pitches well to keep hitters off balance. Day is a pitcher that can be very deceptive thinking about the changes to velocity, and movement on his pitch types. The biggest thing he can adjust from his last outing is to avoid mistakes. A pair of location mistakes in 1 inning last week tripped up Day last week in his start with the Range Riders. If he can execute his pitches, and locate well he should be able to get back on track.
3. Is this the beginning of a run of success for Missoula?
Things went a little up and down for the PaddleHeads collectively over the team's first 12 games. I'd say the lowest point of that stretch was the first two games of the Glacier series last week dropping the first 2 games. Things have drastically turned around however in the games that have followed as Missoula has routinely been in the win column. Despite this, Missoula knows they still have plenty of work to do. Furthermore, there are currently a cluster of 3 teams currently ahead of the PaddleHeads right now in the 1st half standings. Yes things are still early, but time moves quickly and every game matters in the race toward a potential postseason berth.
So will the PaddleHeads catapult their performance in recent games into a long run of success? That will be an interesting question to follow throughout the rest of this week. Make no mistake, the Voyagers will surely be motivated to get things turned around. Even if this disastrous start leaves them out of playoff contention in the end, Great Falls would love to make life difficult for their old Pioneer League rival. So do the PaddleHeads fully grasp momentum or do the Voyagers pull themselves off the canvas?