Voyagers win big over Range Riders

(Great Falls, Mt. ) The Great Falls Voyagers (12-5) and Glacier Range Riders (7-9) came in to game 5 of the 6 game series all tied up. The Voyagers were looking to get the win and guarantee themselves at least a split in the series.

The game started well for the Voyagers as lead off hitter, Breydon Daniel, led things off with a single to center. Daniel immediately stole second and reached third on an error. Andy Atwood benefited on the error as he hit a slow grounder to third base and the third baseman couldn't handle the slow roller. Riley Jepson drew a base on balls to load the bases and a ground ball to short was mishandled by the shortstop allowing Eddie McCabe to reach safely and Daniel to score. Andy Atwood followed with a sac fly to left scoring Atwood.

The starting pitcher, Quincy Jones, pitched well for the Voyagers striking out the side in the second inning and not allowing any runs for the powerful Range Rider offense until the 4th inning.

The Voyagers meantime continued their scoring with a run in the second as Adam Oviedo drew a base on balls. He was knocked in on a double by Jake Malec. A run crossed in the 3rd on a single by Jepson, who stole second. Jepson moved to third on a ground out by McCabe and came home on a ground ball to first by Nick Emanuel.

Having given up 3 runs in the top of the third inning the Voyagers came back with 3 of their own. Tavis Brunson hit a hard line drive to right field that was lost in the sun by the right fielder giving Brunson a free pass to second. Daniel drove him home on a single to right center and Andy Atwood hit a no doubter over the left field wall to make it a 7-3 game after 4.

The Voyagers got another run in the 5th and two in the sixth as Brunson knocked in Zane Zurbrugg with a single in the 5th and another homerun by Atwood drove in Daniel and Malec. Atwoods run did not count in the 6th inning though as while running he passed Malec in the basepath.

Relief pitcher, Anthony Becerra, came in for Jones in the 6th inning and shut down the Range Riders until yielding one run in the 9th inning. A strange thing happened in the 7th inning for the Voyagers, as they did not score a run. The only inning that they failed to do so. They did make up for it in the 8th inning though as 6 runs crossed the plate.

Brunson got things started with a double to center, and Oviedo drew a walk. Daniel hit a grounder to short and in attempting to get a double play the Glaceir squad was only able to get Oviedo at second. Malec then hit a single scoring Brunson. After an Atwood strikeouts and now two outs in the inning the rally began. Jepson hit a single, McCabe hit a single, Emanuel was hit by a pitch, Zurbrugg hit a single, and Brunson hit a single scoring a total of 6 in the inning and 16 in the game.

That was more than enough for the Voyagers who came away with the 16-5 win. The Voyagers will look to get the series clinching win tomorrow afternoon as they take the field at 4 p.m. for the final game of the series. Gates open at 3 p.m. see you at the ballpark!!

Written by Ross Drishinski