7th Inning Rally Leads Voyagers Past PaddleHeads in 11-6 Defeat

Missoula, MT - The Missoula PaddleHeads were locked in a tight battle with the Great Falls Voyagers for a large portion of the night. Neither team led by more than 2 runs over the first six innings of action. The game would also be tied at 4 after 6 innings of play. The Voyagers have made a habit of putting large rallies together in recent games however and would change the trajectory of the game in the seventh. Behind a 6-run barrage, Great Falls would take control, and never looked back in an 11-6 win.

With two outs recorded in the seventh, the Voyagers offense would explode to take a comfortable advantage.. Andy Atwood, and Riley Jepson would get the scoring started with back-to-back doubles to bring in 4 runs. Eddie McCabe would then single home a run and would later score on a wild pitch. Jepson, and McCabe would both finish the night 3-for-5 while Atwood was 1-for-5. 

The Voyagers jumped on the board first for the second consecutive night in the early going taking a 2-0 lead after the first two innings. Jake Malec would get the offense for Great Falls in gear, launching a solo homer in the first inning to kick off the scoring. Malec would finish the game 2-for-4. 

The PaddleHeads knotted things up in the third innings thanks to Lamar Sparks who would double home rookie second baseman Brandon Bohning to make the score 2-2. Sparks would finish the game 2-for-4 with an RBI. 

After the Voyagers grabbed the lead back in the fourth inning, first baseman Jayson Newman would bring the PaddleHeads level thanks to a pair of home runs in the fourth and sixth innings. The Southern California native has now homered three times in his last two games and currently leads the team with 4 homers on the season. Newman finished 2-for-4 at the plate. 

Cameron Thompson would wind out the scoring for the PaddleHeads in the eighth with a two run blast to make the score 11-6. Thompson has now homered twice this season and would finish the game 1-for-4. Despite the late jolt from Thompson. The deficit would prove to be too large to overcome as the PaddleHeads would go down in order in the ninth. 

Great Falls (7-2) now sits two games clear of the rest of the competition in the Northern Division as Missoula (5-4) now sits two games back. The PaddleHeads still have three games upcoming against the Voyagers through the weekend however to try to right the ship. Missoula will kick off the weekend of action on Friday night with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. If you can't make it to the game, tune in on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M. and gopaddleheads.com.