Strong Pitching and Clutch Hitting Get Voyagers The Win

(Great Falls, MT)— The Great Falls Voyagers (5-3) and Idaho Falls Chukars (5-3) 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 sixth 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 second and one in the fifth on seven hits. The Voyagers, meanwhile, could only manage two hits through five innings off Slocum. 

Then, the sixth inning rolled around and the Voyagers struck and struck quickly as lead off hitter, Breydon Daniel, hit his tenth 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 afer six innings. 

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

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

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

Quigley made quick work of Estrada as he grounded out to De Guzman 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 three in a row as the series continues on Thursday night at Centene Stadium. Gates will open at 6 p.m. with first pitch is 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 Voyagers' baseball!