Late Rally Falls Short In 9-6 Loss In Great Falls Tuesday

GREAT FALLS, MT - The Missoula PaddleHeads opened their final slate of road games of the regular season Tuesday evening. Their opponent would be the Great Falls Voyagers in the 1st game in a 6 game series. After the Voyagers had the upper hand earlier this month in action at home, the PaddleHeads would surely be looking to have a different scenario play out. An early swing would get Missoula out on the right foot in the early innings to grab the lead. Missoula also saw runners routinely reach base in the first 2 innings. Things would take a drastic turn from this point forward however. 

Great Falls' starter Jason Pineda settled in nicely after the 2nd inning, tossing 5 more innings on the hill. Furthermore, the Pioneer League All-Star would also hold the PaddleHeads off the board in 5 consecutive innings. The offense of the Voyagers would score 7 unanswered runs in those frames as well to get themselves to a comfortable 6-run lead. The PaddleHeads would battle in the 9th to give themselves a fighting chance with a push of late offense. Ultimately the mountain would be too tall of a climb on this night as the Voyager took home a 9-6 win. 

Great Falls would get on the board in the 1st inning thanks to a run of 4 consecutive singles. Shortstop Jack Lynch would bring home a pair in the inning with a base hit to vault the Voyagers to the lead in the frame. After a scoreless 1st, Missoula would ensure the lead in the early going would be short lived. 

A pair of extra base hits in the 2nd would help the PaddleHeads to their only lead of the night. Josh Elvir would bring home a run in the frame with a double to dead center to get things going. One batter later, Hayden Travinski would launch his 1st professional home run to left field to give the PaddleHeads a 3-2 lead. Pineda would be able to drastically turn things around from this point in his outing with the PaddleHeads bats going silent as a result. 

After allowing 5 hits in the first 2 innings, Pineda would only allow one during the rest of his start. Pineda would retire 8 batters consecutively in his best stretch of success in 7 innings of work. The right hander would earn his 6th win on the mound for his efforts. It also marked his 2nd consecutive win against Missoula this season. The New York native would also see the Voyagers take a comfortable lead right after his final inning on the hill. 

Freddy Rojas Jr. would expand  the Great Falls lead in the 7th inning with one swing after a pair of walks set things up. The Voyagers 1st baseman would hit a 3-run home run in the situation giving Great Falls a 9-3 advantage. This swing would prove to be needed in the late innings despite this momentum building swing. 

4 consecutive singles from the PaddleHeads attack in the top of the 9th inning gave themselves a chance to make things very interesting. An RBI single from Adam Fogel followed by a sacrifice fly from Alec Sanchez would cut the Great Falls advantage to 4. After Mike Rosario scored on a wild pitch, Missoula would even see the tying run come to the plate. A double play would quickly thwart this last gasp effort however as Great Falls would escape with the win. 

The PaddleHeads (58-27) will hope to take the momentum they found late Tuesday into Wednesday's game 2 against the Voyagers (33-52). Action from the Electric City is scheduled to get going at 7:00 p.m. Stay tuned in with all the action from near the banks of the Missouri River on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M.