Strong pitching and clutch hitting get Voyagers the win

(Great Falls, Mt.) The Great Falls Voyagers (32-21) and Idaho Falls Chukars (32-23) faced off in game two of a six game series Wednesday night. The Voyagers fresh off a come from behind win in game one looked to follow it up with a strong performance in game two. The Chukars starting pitcher looked to keep the Voyagers in check, and did so until the 6th inning.

The game started with both starting pitchers, Breonn Pooler for the Voyagers and Joe Slocum for the Chukars, dominating. Both squads were held scoreless in the first and Pooler allowed just one run in the 2nd and on in the 5th on seven hits. The Voyagers meantime could only manage 2 hits through five off Slocum.

Then the 6th inning rolled around and the Voyagers struck and struck quickly as leadoff hitter, Breydon Daniel, hit his 10th home run of the season over the right field fence to cut the lead in half. Jake Malec followed with a single and was brought home on a triple to right center by Riley Jepson. Jepson was brought home on a deep fly ball to right field by Monroe for the sacrifice fly. This gave the Voyagers a 3-2 lead after 6 innings.

Relief pitcher, Josh Gainer came in for the 6th inning and struck out the Chukars 1,2,3 and followed that up with another strike out in the 7th and a popup and ground out. Gainer also kept the Chukars off the board in the 8th inning.

The Voyagers meanwhile were able to manufacture a run in the 7th inning when Christopher "Chino" DeGuzman was hit by a pitch with one out, then stole second and stole third. This allowed DeGuzman to score on a slow groundball up the middle by Daniel. Daniel was able to beat the throw to first securing the 4th run in the game for the Voyagers.

With a 4-2 lead going into the 9th the Voyagers brought in Brad Demco to secure the win. Demco got the first two batters with strikeouts and then hit leadoff hitter Steven Barmakian. With the league leading batting average and potential tying run coming up, Manager Tommy Thompson brought in right hander, Montana Quigly to face right-handed batter, Calvin Estrada.

Quigly made quick work of Estrada as he grounded out to DeGuzman at short who flipped the ball to Myles McKisic at second base to get out Barmakian. This gave the Voyagers the second win in as many games in the series at 4-2.

The Voyagers will look to win 3 in a row as the series continues on Thursday night at Centene Stadium. Gates will open at 6 p.m. with first pitch at 7 p.m. We only have 19 more regular season home games, so don't wait too long or you will miss the chance to watch some great Voyager baseball action!!

Written by Ross Drishinski