Voyager Bats Lead Great Falls To Win Over Missoula

MISSOULA, MT- The Missoula PaddleHeads opened up a 6-game slate of action on Tuesday night against the Great Falls Voyagers. Missoula had enjoyed a distinct advantage over Great Falls in this matchup coming in having won 11 of 12 games against this outfit at Allegiance Field. However, the Voyagers made sure that this game would go much different than others before it from the onset.

The Great Falls attack would get runs on the board in each of the first 3 innings jumping to a 6 run lead as a result. After finding the scoreboard in the home half of the first, Missoula's offense would go quiet for the next 6 innings. Great Falls would go on to pour on 12 unanswered runs in that span leading to the bottom of the 7th. The end result would be a 15-4 victory for the Voyagers in a game they never trailed at any point. 

Hylan Hall would waste no time kicking off a huge night offensively in the top of the 1st inning for Great Falls. The Voyagers designated hitter would launch a 3-run blast to right center field to give the visitors a 3-0 cushion right out of the shoot. Hall would put the finishing touches on offensively for Great Falls in the late innings.

Roberto Pena would have a quick answer early for Missoula hitting a 2-run blast in the home half of the 1st to make the score 3-2. This would be the last time Missoula would find the scoreboard against starting pitcher Jason Pineda allowing Great Falls to build their lead out again. Pena would wrap up his night 2-for-5. 

Extra base hit success would help the Voyagers expand their advantage in the next 2 innings offensively. Second baseman Caden Green would knock in 2 runs with a triple in the 2nd stretching the lead to 3. A pair of home runs from Jack Lynch, and catcher Antonio Fernandez fanned the flames in the 3rd as the Voyagers took an 8-2 lead. Green was 2-for-5 in the win for the Voyagers and Lynch finishing 2-for-3. This would give Pineda plenty to work with.

The Pioneer League All-Star would earn the win for 6 solid innings of work. The native of the Bronx would strike out 7 over those frames. Peneda would do well in stranding runners aboard, doing so in the final 3 innings he pitched on the bump while not allowing a run. Success offensively in the 7th and 8th innings saw Great Falls run away with things. 

Freddy Rojas Jr. would provide more muscle offensively with an RBI single as part of a 2-run rally in the 7th. Rojas finished 3-for-5 in the win. Things offensively would fittingly end the way they started in the next half inning. 

A bases loaded situation would be presented to Hall in the top of the 8th and the Bethune Cookman product would take advantage of it. Hall would hit a grand slam to dead center field to make the score 15-2. Hall would knock in 7 runs over the course of the game finishing 3-for-4. The PaddleHeads would not take this lying down however, scoring runs themselves in the home half of the frame. 

Patrick Chung would single to bring home Missoula's first run since the 2nd inning as part of a 2-run rally. Scoring on the play would be rookie catcher Hayden Travinski in his 1st game in professional baseball. The LSU product would finish 1-for-2 off the bench in the loss. Mike Rosario would also single home Chung in the inning wrapping up a solid night at the dish. Roasio would record a hit in his final 3 at bats finishing 3-for-5. Chung also would reach 3 times from the top of the order in a 2-for-3 performance. 

Missoula (54-19) will look for a quick rebuttal in game 2 of this 6 game set with the Voyagers (25-48) Wednesday night. Get your 'Wolf Wednesday' started at the ballpark with a 7:15 p.m. first pitch. You can also tune in to hear all the action on ESPN Missoula and 1029espn.com.