Early Offense Lead Glacier Past Missoula Friday

FLATHEAD VALLEY, MT- The Missoula PaddleHeads would hand the Glacier Range Riders a loss in dramatic fashion Thursday night prior to the activity in game 4 of a 6 game set Friday. At times losses in this way can lead to a carry over effect in the games that follow. Thanks to a quick start offensively however, Glacier made sure that they would avoid this sequence behind a strong performance. 

The Range Riders would score 6 runs in the 2nd, and 3rd innings combined with extra base hits during the bulk of the heavy lifting. Missoula would be held in check on the other side by southpaw Jack While who would deliver a solid performance in 6 ⅔ innings. Missoula would never hold the lead at any point throughout the contest as the PaddleHeads would be limited to 7 hits on the night. The end result would be a comfortable 10-3 victory for Glacier to even this 6 game set at 2 games apiece. 

The Range Riders would get things rolling early behind a pair of 3-run rallies in the 2nd and 3rd innings to jump out to a sizable advantage. Mason Dinesen would knock in a pair in the 2nd with a double to center field to make the score 2-0. 2 more extra base hits would do damage in the next half inning as well to make the score 6-0. Dinesen would finish 1-for-3 Friday. 

Kristian Kirtley, and Crews Taylor would both knock in runs in consecutive at-bats in the 3rd to bring Glacier's advantage out further as part of another 3-run rally. Kirtley would knock in 2 with a double to left center. Taylor would race all the way to 3rd on a triple in the next at-bat to bring Glacier's lead to 5-0. It would be a big night in the middle of the order for both as Taylor and Kirtley would tally 5 hits, and would score 4 runs combined. Taylor finished 3-for-4 and Kirtley was 2-for-4.

After seeing no action offensively through 3, Missoula showed a sign of life in the top of the 4th plating their first run to cut into the deficit. Patrick Chung would lead off the inning with a single and would later come in to score on an RBI groundout to cut the Glacier lead to 6-1. Chung would tally his 2nd multi hit game this week in the loss finishing 2-for-4. 

Missoula would continue to hang around in the middle frames thanks to a swing from Josh Elvir in the 6th. The former Grand Junction Rocky would hit his 2nd double of the contest off the very top of the wall in center field to knock in 2 in the frame to make the score 8-3. This would be as close as Missoula would come the rest of the way however as this would be Missoula's final runs of the night. Elvir would finish the contest 2-for-4. 

Jack White kept the PaddleHeads offense under wraps for the bulk of his start over 6 ⅔ innings. The San Jose State product would earn his 2nd win of the season striking out 9 batters over those innings. White would not allow a single base runner over the 1st 3 innings on the way to a win using his fastball to tie up the Missoula attack. 

John LaRossa would pitch well for the PaddleHeads out of the pen in a losing effort in 2 scoreless frames. The 2nd year PaddleHead would strike out a pair in those innings allowing no runs. Glacier would find success offensively after his departure to stretch the lead out however as Missoula would not challenge down the stretch. 

The PaddleHeads (59-23) will look to reign it back in for the final night game  of the week in game 5 from Glacier Bank Park opposite the Range Riders (45-35). Catch all the action from the ballpark starting at 7:05 p.m. on 102.9 F.M. ESPN Missoula.