Villa Tallies 8 Strikeouts in PaddleHeads Win Tuesday

BOISE, ID- After officially being named as the Pioneer League Pitcher of the Month earlier in the day Tuesday, Alfredo Villa would fittingly take the mound in game 2 of a 3 game set opposite the Boise Hawks. Villa would pick up right where he left off in his outing holding the Hawks to just 1 run through 6 innings. Despite feeling a certain amount of comfort, Boise would never let the lead get out of hand. This allowed the Hawks to make one last push in the bottom of the 9th in an attempt to steal a win late. 

Trailing by 3 heading into the bottom of the 9th, Boise would see their first 2 base runners reach to put Missoula in a strenuous position. Raymond Gil would make things even more interesting in the inning hitting a 2-run single to right field to cut Missoula's advantage to just 1 run. Later in the frame, Boise would have the tying, and winning run in scoring position at 2nd and 3rd base. Mark Simon would hold things off in the tight situation to earn his 11th save of the season striking out the final 2 batters he faced to preserve a 4-3 win. 

The PaddleHeads would score their first 2 runs of the night on a home run for the 2nd consecutive game. Jake Guenther would be the player providing the power in the 4th, launching a towering 2-run home run to right to give Missoula a 2-0 lead. Guenther would be a solid contributor throughout finishing 2-for-3 with a walk. This swing would be enough to keep the PaddleHeads in front for a large chunk of time thanks to the work from Villa. 

The Adams State product would move his record to 13-1 on the season for his work over 6 innings. Villa would allow 1 run on 5 hits over those frames while striking out 8 batters. The Arizona native has been simply sensational over his last 8 starts having pitched at least 6 innings in each of those starts. Furthermore, Villa has allowed 1 earned run or fewer in each of those games while holding a 1.69 ERA in 43 ⅔ innings. 

Missoula would tack on 2 big runs of insurance in the top of the 7th to extend their advantage to 4-1. Ryan Cash would come through in a clutch 2-out situation to bring home a pair of runs with a single to right to extend Missoula's advantage. After Boise's push in the bottom of the 9th, this would surely prove to be a big swing for Missoula down the stretch. Cash has now recorded a hit in his last 6 games played and finished Tuesday 1-for-5.  

The PaddleHeads (64-27) play in their final scheduled road game of the regular season on Wednesday night in the series finale opposite the Boise Hawks (45-47). Missoula will be in search of the series sweep to claim their 4th consecutive victory on the road. Action from Memorial Stadium will get rolling at 7:05 p.m. Catch every pitch on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M.