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PL Missoula PaddleHeads

PaddleHeads Score 13 Unanswered Runs in Win

September 8, 2024 - Pioneer League (PL)
Missoula PaddleHeads News Release


MISSOULA, MT - The Missoula PaddleHeads played in their final regular season game Sunday afternoon in the finale of a 6-game set with the Billings Mustangs. Both teams would see a quiet start from the offense after the first inning of play. That would be a trend for a large chunk of the afternoon for Billings as Robbie Dudzinski would hold the Mustangs off the board in his first 6 innings of work. The PaddleHeads offense would come to life in the 2nd inning on the flipside and would never look back.

A 7-run rally in the bottom of the 2nd would set the tone for the ballgame as Missoula jumped to a 7-0 advantage. The PaddleHeads attack would just keep on coming from that point, opening up a 13-0 advantage in the bottom of the 6th. Billings would tally runs in the late innings but would not come close to having it impact the end result in a 16-10 win for Missoula to wrap up the regular season on a high. The PaddleHeads now will prepare for a postseason run that begins Tuesday evening.

A single from Adam Fogel followed by 2 walks would set up Missoula's big push in the bottom of the 2nd. Bases loaded walks to Taylor Smith, Mike Rosario, and Patrick Chung would all be productive making the score 3-0. Roberto Pena would then deliver the big blow launching a 450 foot bomb to dead center field to make the score 7-0. The offense would also keep the pedal down the next 2 frames. Fogel reached base 4 times in the win, finishing 3-for-5.

The performance for the rookie left fielder brought his batting average to .388 on the season, the highest batting average in the Pioneer League. Fogel would also finish first in the league in home runs (35) and 2nd in the league in RBIs (115).

A pair of singles from Colin Gordon, and Carlos Perez would kick things off in the 3rd inning.

Smith, and Cameron Thompson would knock both of them in during consecutive at-bats making the score 9-0. Smith would bring home Perez on a sacrifice fly ahead of an RBI single from Thompson.

Smith knocked in 3 runs in the win finishing 1-for-2. Thompson would drive home 2 runs of his own in a 2-for-4 performance. Gordon and Perez would also do their part with Perez finishing 2-for-4 around a 3-for-4 day for Gordon.

Pena would highlight a 3-run rally in the 4th inning that saw Missoula extend its lead to 12 runs. The 1st baseman would hit his 2nd home run of the day to left field to bring home a pair. The Kansas State product would finish the day 3-for-5 with 6 RBIs. This would bring Pena's RBI total to 101 on the season. This marked the first time in PaddleHeads history that 2 players finished with 100 RBIs or more in the same season with Pena and Fogel both eclipsing that mark.

Dudzinski would be firmly in control of the Mustangs attack on the flipside for the vast bulk of his afternoon on the mound on the way to a win in 7 innings of work. The George Mason product would not allow a run through 6 on 3 hits. In his best stretch, Dudzinski would only allow 1 base runner from the 3rd inning through the 6th. The Mustangs would find success in the late innings in an instance where they would just make the score look a little closer.

A pair of home runs in the 7th from Wyatt Crenshaw, and Blake Evans would bring home 4 runs for the Mustangs to get Billings on the board to cut the deficit to 13-4. Billings would also send 9 batters to the plate in the top of the 9th to plate 6. Despite this, the end result would seemingly never be in doubt as the PaddleHeads would have a successful final game of the regular season ahead of the postseason push.

Missoula (62-34) wrapped up the regular season winning 2 of the final 3 games of this series against the Mustangs (46-50). After doing battle in the Pioneer League playoffs in each of the last 2 seasons, Billings saw their season come to an end Sunday having missed the playoffs. The same is not true for Missoula who now prepares for the postseason for the 4th consecutive year.

The PaddleHeads opponent in the 1st round of the playoffs will be a familiar foe in another Western Montana outfit in the Glacier Range Riders (48-48). This best of 3 series begins on Tuesday evening with Game 1 being on the road. This series will then shift back to Missoula for Game 2 on Thursday. Game 3 would follow in Missoula on Friday if necessary. The other first round matchup in the Pioneer League Playoffs features the Yolo High Wheelers (53-41) and Oakland Ballers (58-38).

Action in Game 1 between Glacier and Missoula is scheduled for Tuesday night. First pitch at Glacier Bank Park is set for 7:00 p.m. Catch the playoff baseball action in the Flathead Valley on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M. and 1029espn.com.

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