Mustangs Pull Away Late In 10-6 Defeat Wednesday

MISSOULA, MT - The Missoula PaddleHeads were in a back and forth battle for a large chunk of Wednesday's ballgame opposite the Billings Mustangs. Both teams would spend time in the lead in the first 6 innings with neither team leading by more than 2 in that span. Trailing by one in the bottom of the 6th, Missoula looked to have a situation set up to find some momentum with the bases loaded. A clutch play on the infield from the Mustangs however to keep Billings out of trouble would prove to be a situation to build upon for the visitors. 

With one out in the 6th, Patrick Chung would lace a line drive to the right of the second base bag in a bases loaded scenero. 2nd baseman Blake Evans would climb the ladder and make an acrobatic catch in the situation to turn a double play to put out the fire to keep Billings in front. The Mustangs would then find clutch offense in the 8th, and 9th innings scoring 4 runs combined in those frames to win their 2nd game in as many nights opposite the PaddleHeads by a score of 10-6. 

A pair of extra base hits would get Billings going in the early innings to score 2. A double from Gabe Wurtz would knock in a run in the top of the first to vault the Mustangs to the lead. Evan Blum would give Billings a 2-1 lead an inning later with a home run to right field. The Georgetown product would put the finishing touches on in the late innings on what would be a big night for the 1st baseman.

The PaddleHeads attack would get going in the 3rd with a 3-run rally to take their largest lead of the night at 2. Josh Elvir would get things rolling with a single to right to knock in the tying run. A Pair of RBI groundouts would follow from Cameron Thompson, and Hayden Travinski as Missoula took a 4-2 advantage. Success in the middle innings with 2-outs would then see Billings fight back. 

Singles in consecutive at-bats with 2-outs would do damage in the 4th from Jacob Cline, and Connor Denning as the Mustangs regained the lead on a pair of singles. Evans, and Wyatt Crenshaw would follow suit with 2 more base hits with 2-outs to give Billings a 6-5 advantage in the 5th inning. Denning and Kline would both finish 2-for-5 and Krenshaw was 2-for-6. Evans would reach base 4 times in the win finishing 1-for-2. Billings would also pull away late with more help from the offense. 

Kline, and Denning would strike again, knocking in a pair in consecutive at-bats in the 8th. A single from Kline would knock in Evans prior to an RBI double from Denning that made the score 8-5. One more swing from Blum in the 9th would help Billings put things away.

The rookie would hit an impressive opposite field 2-run home run to left to bring the Mustangs advantage to 4 in the top of the 9th. Blum would finish with 3 RBIs in the win in a 3-for-5 performance. The Mustangs would then leave nothing to doubt thanks to a nasty right-hander out of the bullpen in the bottom of the 9th. 

Late inning specialist Jonothan Habb would blow the PaddleHeads away in the 9th striking out 3 consecutive batters to end the ballgame in a blink of an eye. Having won the first 2 games of this series, Missoula will now need to turn things around quickly in game 3 of the series Thursday. 

Billings (44-48) will look to make it 3 in a row in game 3 opposite the PaddleHeads (60-32). Action on a 'Thirsty Thursday' at the Ballpark is scheduled to get rolling at 7:15 p.m. Hear the action on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M. and 1029espn.com.