PRO BASEBALL: Great Falls Voyagers pull out ugly sticks to hang 22 on Chukars
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — The Great Falls Voyagers went into Melaleuca Field Saturday with a message. And they got it across, loud and clear.
And ugly, too.
Three Voyagers — Breydon Daniel, Jake Malec and Christopher DeGuzman — had four-hit nights in Great Falls' 21-hit arsenal while southpaw Quincy Jones collected his third win of the season in a 22-9 crushing of the Idaho Falls Chukars in a Pioneer Baseball League North Division contest. It was the Voyagers' third consecutive victory.
The win kept the Voyagers (24-16) in second place in the North, six games behind division leading Missoula (30-10). The Paddleheads got two runs in the bottom of the eighth to get past Glacier 5-4 for Missoula's eighth straight win. The Voyagers and Paddleheads will play six times beginning Tuesday night at Centene Stadium, and Great Falls will have to win out — including Sunday's game at Melaleuca — to tie the Paddlehead for the first half division championship.
Previous coverage:Voyagers reclaim second place after slugfest win
Just one Missoula win at Centene would effectively seal the deal.
The Billings Mustangs (21-17) remain in third, but are mathematically eliminated from the race to the first half title. Idaho Falls (22-18) is fourth, with the Range Riders in the basement at 13-26.
The Voyagers led this four-hour, 19-minute marathon from wire-to-wire. Daniel, who missed hitting for the cycle by a double, led off the game with a triple and scored on a throwing error, then Riley Jepson — one of four Voyagers with three RBI — homered with a man on to make it 3-0 before the seats were warm (given the 90-degree weather).
Calvin Estrada drove in a run on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the first, but that's as close as the Chukars would get to the visiting club, thanks to a seven-run onslaught in the second that started when Malec got hit by a pitch with the bases full, and was capped by DeGuzman's two-run single ... also with the bags loaded.
After the Chukars got the second run on a Hunter Hudson grounder in the bottom of the second, the Voyagers tacked on three more in the fourth. Adam Oviedo doubled home a run, and Daniel connected for a two-run single. The Chukars added another run in the fourth and two in the fifth on Eric Callahan's safety.
Daniel made it 14-6 when he lifted a towering fly ball over the right field wall with one out in the sixth, and the Voyagers added three in the eighth and five in the ninth to put it to bed.
Jones (3-2) scattered six earned on 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Anthony Becerra-Lopez held the Chukars to two earned on three hits, two walks and a K; Eric Newman allowed a run on a hit and two walks in the eighth; and Montana Quigley walked one and fanned one before slamming the door in the ninth.
The Chukars used five pitchers and a position player Saturday. Kevin Elefante was the position player that came on with two out in the top of the ninth and gave up a base hit before coaxing a fly out, but starter Nick Trabacchi (1-2) never got out of the second inning, and his ERA took a hit: 1 2/3 innings, 10 runs, nine earned, seven hits, two walks, a hit batsman and two punchouts.
Daniel, Malec and DeGuzman each went 4-for-6. Daniel, Jepson, DeGuzman and Michael Deeb each drove in three runs (Deeb had a pair of doubles and a single), while Malec and Derek Kolbush added two RBI each — Kolbush did his without the benefit of a hit. Oviedo, Collin Runge and Myles McKisic also drove in a run each.
Jose Reyes drove in one run and had four hits in four official at bats. He also walked three times for Idaho Falls. Brendan Hueth doubled twice and drove in three, and Callahan added a pair of RBI.
The Voyagers and Chukars concluded their six-game series Sunday afternoon.
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Great Falls Voyagers beat Chukars in third consecutive baseball victory
