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PL Missoula PaddleHeads

O'Conner Leads Opening Night Offensive Onslaught in Win

May 30, 2023 - Pioneer League (PL)
Missoula PaddleHeads News Release


Missoula MT- The Missoula PaddleHeads made their home debut on Tuesday night playing host to the Rocky Mountain Vibes. In their first ever visit to the Garden City, the Vibes drew first blood in the top of the 1st thanks to the long ball setting the tone in the early going. Home runs would be a factor throughout the evening as 8 home runs were hit throughout the course of the contest. After the early success from the Vibes set the tone, Missoula's offense would do more than enough to fight back on a night where the PaddleHead offense could not be stopped.

Missoula would score in 5 consecutive innings from the 2nd through the 7th to blow the game wide open. Keaton Greenwalt, and McClain O'Conner did a lot of the heavy lifting hitting 4 home runs combined in the contest to pace the PaddleHeads attack. Missoula would tally a season high in hits (19) in the contest. On the other end of the spectrum, Missoula's bullpen would hold Rocky Mountain scoreless over the final 5 innings of the contest allowing the PaddleHeads to firmly take control. The end result was a 17-5 victory for Missoula in front of a vocal crowd at Allegiance Field at Ogren Park.

After being held off the board for the first 2 innings of the contest, the PaddleHeads offense would take off over the next 5 frames. Greenwalt would give Missoula their first lead in the 3rd with a 2-run blast to highlight a 3-run rally. The former Phillies product was far from finished as Greenwalt would also bring in 3 with the long ball in the 5th after doubling home 2 more in the 4th. In total, Greenwalt finished the night 3-for-5 with a team best 7 RBIs. Amazingly enough, another batter in the order would have an even bigger night.

A 6-run rally in the fourth allowed the PaddleHeads to pull away for good. Cameron Thompson got the party started with a dramatic inside the park home run into left center field to kick off the scoring. O'Conner would then launch his first home run of the night down the left field line one batter later. This was only the beginning for the Nevada native who would also homer in the 6th and triple in the 8th. O'Conner would finish 5-for-5 in the contest. Furthermore, O'Conner is 8-for-9 in his last 2 games played with 4 home runs and 7 driven in.

The PaddleHeads bullpen made sure the Vibes offense would have no chance to get on the comeback trail in 5 combined shutout innings. Rookie Austin Dill was the highlight pitching in his home debut. The Evangel University product would strike out 5 batters over 3 innings of work and did not allow a single run over those frames. Mitch Sparks, and Lui Fuenmayor would both also throw scoreless innings over the final 2 frames allowing only 1 base runner down the stretch.

The PaddleHeads (4-3) will now see if this victory gives them something to build off of as Missoula will look for the series win in Game 2 opposite the Vibes (2-4) on Wednesday night. First pitch from Allegiance Field at Ogren Park is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Listen to the Call on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M. if you cannot make it to the ballpark.

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