Rockies Offense Leads the Charge in Game 1 Win

Missoula, MT- The Pioneer League Championship Series began on Saturday night in game 1 between the Missoula PaddleHeads, and Grand Junction Rockies. The Rockies were making their first appearance in the league championship series since falling to the Great Falls Voyagers at this stage in 2018. Missoula began this best of 3 series at Allegiance Field at Ogren Park in search of their 2nd consecutive league title. Grand Junction used a big offensive push in the late innings to get by Ogden in the Division Series to punch their ticket to the championship round. The offense would once again be the driving force behind the Rockies success Saturday night setting the tone from the start. 

Grand Junction would get on the board in each of the first 4 innings of the ballgame to immediately grab the early advantage. The Rockies would be most active in the 3rd, and 4th innings sending 18 batters to the plate in those 2 frames alone. When the dust settled, Grand Junction would have 12 runs on the board after 4. Missoula would show fight with a late comeback attempt in the 9th, but the mountain would prove to be too tall to climb as Grand Junction would come away with a 12-10 win. 

After falling behind briefly in the top of the 3rd, Grand Junction would waste no time erasing the deficit with a 4-run rally to make the score 6-3 in the bottom half. Shawn Ross would get the offense going with an RBI double in the frame that was followed by RBI singles from Jordan Fitzpatrick, and Casey Petersen. Ross had a solid night finishing 3-for-5 and Petersen was 1-for-4. Fitzpatrick would also contribute, tallying 2 RBIs to finish 2-for-4. 

Missoula would take their only lead of the night behind a 3-run push of their own in the 3rd inning. Andrew Noviello would get the offense started in the frame with a solo home run to left. After a 2-out walk to Kamron Willman, Nick Gatewood would also strike with the long ball launching a 2-run bomb to give Missoula a 3-2 lead. This push would prove to not be enough however as Grand Junction would take control in the 4th thanks to a big rally. Noviello finished 3-for-5 in the loss at the plate. 

The Rockies would plate 6 runs in the bottom of the fourth stretching their lead out to 7 in the process. Jacob Cruce, and Fitzpatrick would both do damage in the frame on a pair of RBI singles. Josh Elvir delivered the biggest blow with 2-outs in the frame however, driving home 3 on with a home run that made the score 12-5. Missoula would never recover from this flury from Grand Junction. Elvir, and Cruce would both finish the night 2-for-4. 

Despite seeing things go against Missoula for portions of the night on the mound, Connor Schultz would do his part in relief with a dazzling performance in a losing effort. The former Hawkeye would allow only 1 hit over 4 innings of work while striking out 8 batters. In one stretch from the 5th, to the beginning of the 7th, Shultz would strike out 6 batters in a row. The Pennsylvania native would also retire the final 11 batters he faced. This will surely be something the PaddleHeads will look to build on for the remainder of the series despite the loss. 

Missoula would make things interesting in the 9th despite going into the frame trailing by 7. Gatewood would drive in a run in the frame with a single to get the offense started. 2 more runs would come in to score later in the frame  thanks to an error in center field. Keaton Greenwalt would then bring Grand Junction's lead to 2 on a 2-run bomb into left center that made the score 12-10. Missoula's magic would run out one batter later however as the 5-run push would not provide enough. Gatewood finished 3-for-5 in the loss and Greenwalt was 1-for-5. 

The PaddleHeads will now have an offday on Sunday to make adjustments after the game 1 defeat. Grand Junction is now 1 win away from claiming their first championship since the franchise moved to Colorado in 2012. Action in game 2 of the series is set to get under way on Monday September 19. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Tickets are available at www.gopaddleheads.com. If you cannot make it to the field, listen in on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M.