Vibes Take Opener in Idaho Falls 17-7

By Tyler Petersen

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho.  – Two huge offensive innings made the difference last night for the Rocky Mountain Vibes in a 17-7 win over the Idaho Falls Chukars.

With six runs scored in the fourth and eight runs in the sixth the Vibes both erased a deficit and blew open a wide lead.

So let's recap what happened, which is the whole reason I'm writing this article anyway.

The Chukars wasted no time scoring runs off Vibes starter Connor Woods, who gave up four in the bottom of the first, two coming on a Zach May home run. Woods did right the ship after that, putting up zeros in the second, third, and fourth.

The Vibes trailed 4-1 after three innings, but began the fourth by getting men to second and third. Jacob Barfield doubled in both runners and Edmond Americaan followed up with a 430 ft home run. Coming in trailing, the Vibes would leave the inning up 7-4.

Idaho Falls evened it up again in the fifth with three runs off Woods. Zach May homered again, another two-run shot.

Woods got through 5 innings and the game was sent to the sixth at 7 apiece.

In that sixth inning, the Chukars committed three errors within the first three batters which set up the start of something big. Five Vibes batters had RBI singles, and RBI walk, a sacrifice fly, and 13 batters in the inning brought home a whopping eight runs to make it 15-7.

In the final four innings, the Vibes brought out four pitchers from the bullpen (including debuts for Rafael Kelly and Reed Butz), all who shut down the Idaho Falls offense. They allowed just four baserunners and struck out five.

The icing on the cupcake came in the top of the ninth when former Idaho Falls Chukar Dusty Stroup sent a baseball 402 feet off the scoreboard for his fifth home run of the season.

The 17-run output was the highest scoring game for the Vibes this season and most since July 6 of 2022 when they scored 24 over Grand Junction.

The Vibes now are on a season-high three game winning streak which they look to continue tomorrow night, same place, same time against the Chukars.