Missoula Bullpen Shuts Down Raptors In Win Saturday

MISSOULA, MT - The Missoula PaddleHeads bullpen would be put into a tough position right away Saturday in game 2 of a 3 game set opposite the Ogden Raptors. After 3 hitters, starter Jonothan Clark would unfortunately be forced to come out of the game due to an injury. This meant that a contingent of PaddleHeads relievers would be tasked with recording all 27 outs of the game. Ogden would also hold a 3-0 advantage before Clark departed. The PaddleHeads offense would also be quiet for the first 5 innings of the contest. Thanks to outstanding work from the bullpen, Missoula would stay in the game. The PaddleHeads offense would then awaken just in the knick of time. 

Missoula would outscore Ogden 9-0 in the final 3 innings of the contest scoring in consecutive innings from the 6th through the 8th. The PaddleHeads would find the lead for the first time behind a big rally in the bottom of the 8th. After seeing a lead get away in game 1 Friday, Missoula's pen would fittingly finish the job in the 9th in one last scoreless frame in a 10-5 win for the PaddleHeads. Missoula's bullpen held the Raptors off the board in their final 6 innings pitched overall. 

The Raptors would jump to the lead in the early going for the second night in a row. After ending the game with a triple Friday, Nick Ultsch would start off his night in game 2 with the long ball. With 2 runners on, Ultsch would give the Raptors a 3-0 lead with a home run to dead center in the 1st inning. This would be the last batter Clark faced before being removed from the game. Ultsch did have a solid night throughout finishing 3-for-5. The pen would budge only one time after this sequence. 

Collin Runge delivered the only punch for the PaddleHeads offense in the early innings, hitting a solo home run to left. Missoula's offense would then remain quiet till the 6th inning allowing Ogden to stay in front. Runge would play a big role in getting the PaddleHeads back into it swinging the bat in the late innings and would finish 2-for-3 with 3 runs scored.

Ogden would strike for the last time with the long ball in the 4th as rookie shortstop Cole Jordan would hit a home run to center to give the Raptors a 5-1 lead. Jordan would finish the contest 2-for-3. This would be the only glimmar of success the rest of the way for the Ogden attack as the PaddleHeads pen stiffened. 

The bullpen contingent of Noah McBride, Mason Bryant, Mark Timmins, and Andrew Garcia would combine to pitch 5 shutout innings down the stretch allowing Missoula to stay in the game. Jestin Jones would also pitch well in 4 innings at the start of the contest allowing only 2 runs in his outing. The PaddleHeads attack would then do their part in the bottom of the 8th to ensure this effort would not be wasted. 

Missoula sent all 9 batters to the plate in the bottom of the 8th scoring 6 runs to take the lead for the first time in the contest. Cameron Thompson would knot things up at 5 in the inning bringing the 1st run of the rally home on a single. Luis Navarro would then single home Runge to give Missoula the advantage of 6-5. Navarro and Thompson both finished 2-for-4 in the win driving in 3 runs combined. Success with the long ball would then put the game away. 

Colin Gordon would stretch the lead out further with a 3-run bomb to center giving Missoula a 4-run lead. Patrick Chung would follow suit in the next at-bat hitting a solo home run of his own to extend the lead to 5. Gordon would finish 1-for-2 in the win reaching base 3 times in the contest. Garcia would then pitch a scoreless 9th after the big rally to set up a rubber match of this 3 game series. 

Missoula (36-11) will look for a series win in their final regular season battle with the Raptors (22-25) on Sunday afternoon at Allegiance Field. First pitch on a 'Kids Free Sunday' is set for 2:15 p.m. Catch all the action from the ballpark on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M. and 1029espn.com.