An Insider's View To Game 18 vs. Great Falls

An Insider's View to Game 18 at Voyagers Stadium

Game 18

 Missoula PaddleHeads @ Great Falls Voyagers 

June 8.2025

11:30 a.m. Voyagers Stadium

Brenden Beard vs. Nick Marshall

Sensational Sox

Matthew Sox turned in what potentially was the best outing from a PaddleHeads starting pitcher Saturday night in 6 shutout innings. Things seemingly were never in doubt in his time on the mound in a dominant effort. Sox scattered 3 hits while also striking out a season best 9 batters. The offense would then hold up their end jumping out to the lead scoring in 5 consecutive innings to open the ballgame. Missoula would not look back from that point forward.

The bullpen would also extinguish any hope for the Voyagers in the final 3 innings. This trio would get through those innings only facing 10 batters total. In the end,  Missoula finished off its first shutout win over an opponent this season. This was also the 3rd time Missoula has shutout Great Falls in Pioneer League action in PaddleHeads history dating back to 2021. 

A Look At Shutouts

The shutout win for the PaddleHeads on Saturday night was their 10th overall in history dating back to 2021. Missoula's first ever shutout in this iteration of Pioneer League action also came against Great Falls in a game on May 24, 2021. Starting pitching was a highlight that night as well for Missoula as the 2021 League Pitcher of the Year Domingo Pena would fan 10 batters in his time on the mound.

The opponent that has been on the wrong side of the most PaddleHeads shutout wins has been the Boise Hawks in this iteration of league action. Missoula has shutout Boise on 4 separate occasions to this point. Missoula has also 1 shutout victory over Idaho Falls, Billings, and Glacier. 

Prior to Saturday, Missoula's last shutout came back on July 4 of last season when the PaddleHeads claimed a 5-0 victory at Memorial Stadium. The only one that seemingly delivered offensive fireworks that night was Adam Fogel hitting a long home run to center field that reportedly was found on the banks of Payette Lake in Ponderosa State Park. 

An Outlook To Oakland

Missoula will turn their attention to a new opponent in the coming days to begin a 12 game home stand next week.   The PaddleHeads will play host to the Oakland Ballers opening a 3-game series beginning Tuesday. This will be the first ever meeting for these franchises. The Ballers joined the Pioneer League as an expansion franchise in 2024. The HighWheelers joined Oakland as the 2nd team in the league with ties to California. Oakland would also enjoy great success in their 1st season being one of 4 teams in the league to qualify for the Pioneer League postseason. The Ballers would suffer a similar fate as the PaddleHeads seeing their season come to a close in the 1st round of the postseason losing to the eventual league champion HighWheelers. 

Oakland will wrap up a 9-game Treasure State road swing in the process having spent this week playing the Glacier Range Riders. Oakland has enjoyed a solid week of success in the Flathead Valley winning each of the first 4 games of the series. Pitching has been the name of the game for Oakland in the series, allowing only 3.6 runs per game on average in 5 contests with Glacier. This also has been true all season as the Ballers own the lowest team ERA (3.85) of any club in the Pioneer League. 

Saturday's Pitching Matchup

RHP #30 Brenden Beard (0-0) (4.50 ERA) vs. RHP #12 Nick Marshall (0-2) 11.42 ERA 

Beard's Last Time Out

• Beard would allow runs in the first 2 innings last Sunday but would not allow anything further in 4 frames of work. 

• Beard would walk 3 in the outing while striking out a pair of Range Riders batters

• The last time pitching on the road, Beard would punch out 9 in an outing against Billings.

• This will be the rookie's first appearance opposite Great Falls this season. 

Nick Marshall's Scouting Report

• Marshall is in his 2nd season with Great Falls in their starting rotation having made 13 starts with the Voyagers in 2024. 

• Marshall would strike out 71 batters in 65 innings while allowing 48 runs in those innings.

• The Wisconsin native finished with a 3-6 record in those outings with a 6.65 ERA.

• His first outing as a professional came in a losing effort against Missoula on June 14 last season allowing 8 runs in 3 ⅓ innings. 

• Marshall did fare well in his last 2 starts against Missoula last season however allowing 3 runs in 12 innings pitched. 

 Game 18 Starting Lineups

Missoula PaddleHeads (12-5)

1. #8 Colin Gordon 3B

2. #7 Roberto Pena 1B

3. #21 Mike Rosario RF

4. #55 Adam Fogel DH

5. #6 Alec Sanchez CF

6. #2 Kamron Willman 2B

7. #18 Carlos Perez C

8. #5 Henry Strmecki LF

9. #3 Colby Wilkerson SS

RHP #30 Brenden Beard 

Great Falls Voyagers (2-15)

1. #1 Luis Carlos Moreno 2B

2. #9 AJ Fritz SS

3. #26 Roman Kuntz DH

4. #21 Tommy Specht LF

5. #23 Freddy Rojas Jr. RF

6. #7 Jeff Nicol C

7. #14 Sebastian Mueller 3B

8. #34 Frank Podkul 1B

9. #10 Ryle Preece CF

RHP #12 Nick Marshall

3 Big Questions Entering Game 18 Sunday

1. Will Brenden Beard pick up his first professional win? 

Beard has seen some peaks, and valleys to this point in his first 2 professional outings. The one trend that has been in view in both starts has seen him allow runs right out of the gate. Beard has allowed 5 combined runs in the 1st inning of his outings. The good news is that he has found ways to bounce back, and keep offensive numbers down from that point forward. So how will he avoid those early blips to put a full start together? The biggest thing for him will be attacking. Beard can throw darts to different spots in the strike zone with deceptive speeds, and movement. 

Beard will hopefully take a page out of the book of Sox. He works in a different style on the mound. However, when he is at his best both pitchers see similar end results. Beard has also shown the ability to stack up strikeouts thinking about his outing against Billings 2 weeks ago. Additionally, double play balls would play a big role in working out of innings against Glacier last week. So if he can mesh those 2 things together this afternoon, he should be in good shape. 

2. Will the PaddleHeads start fast?

It is always interesting to see how a team performs when a routine is switched up to a degree. Matinee start times on Sundays are nothing new to the Pioneer League with teams across the league doing so. However, 11:30 a.m. is a different beast. It features an earlier alarm clock than usual. The PaddleHeads most likely arrived at the park this morning less than 12 hours after the team charter rolled past the Missouri River on their way back to the team hotel. So adjusting to this and focusing on the task at hand will be important. 

Surely the PaddleHeads will look to have this 'Brunch Battle' end in a better way than the one on September 9 of last season did in a 12-1 drubbing. On the flipside, Great Falls is desperate to find a semblance of something to build on. The Voyagers are not only stair at a potential 6-game sweep, but also a 13 game losing streak.  

3. Will Missoula bring this momentum back home?

The PaddleHeads will make themselves at home in the upcoming weeks thinking about playing 12 consecutive games at Allegiance Field. This will be a massive stretch for Missoula in the 1st half of the regular season. They find themselves at this point in a good position near the top of the standings. After some searches for identity in the first 10 games of the season, Missoula seemingly has found the winning formula. Now they will look to catapult that into a run of success on their home field. A tough opponent will be waiting to begin things as well thinking about a clash with a team with postseason aspirations in the Ballers. 

After the series with Oakland however, Missoula's next 9 games will be against teams with a record under .500. This to me looks like a stretch where the PaddleHeads will really look to put some wins together to build confidence. Missoula has had an outstanding week to this point doing a little of everything. We've seen 25 runs on the board, wins in close games, and shutouts. Now the PaddleHeads will aim to put it all together to finish this series off. Doing so, Missoula would roll back over the Continental Divide with a ton of momentum for this stretch.