PBL Championship Game Two: Hawks leave it late to force decisive Game Three

Boise, ID - Game Two of the PBL Championship Series was a story that matched much of the Boise Hawks (1-1) season as they completed a late comeback to take down the Missoula PaddleHeads (1-1) by a final score of 5-4 on Wednesday night at Memorial Stadium.

Falling behind early was again the name of the game for Boise, who gave up a solo home run to Dean Nevarez in the top of the third to go behind 1-0.

In the bottom of the fourth the Hawks would get the run back, grabbing a leadoff single from Jason Dicochea, who advanced to second on an error by PaddleHeads shortstop, Cameron Thompson.

Dicochea would then be doubled home by Alejandro Rivero to tie the game at one, but Rivero would end up being stranded at third when the inning ended and giving Missoula a chance to take another lead.

Missoula took their chance in the fifth on yet another solo homer, this time an opposite field shot off the bat of McClain O'Conner, making it 2-1.

The PaddleHeads would add more in the eighth, going ahead 4-1 when a wild pitch allowed two runs to cross.

A fastball in the dirt would sneak past Byron Smith letting Thompson score from third, and then Smith threw it over the head of Conner Dand who was covering home which allowed Brandon Riley to score all the way from second as well.

With no quit in them, Boise came into the bottom of the eighth down three runs and managed to send four across the plate.

It began with Myles Miller singling, followed up by a Dicochea single to put runners on first and second.

Rivero would then nearly tie the game, blasting a ball off the very top of the wall in right-center ending up with a two-run double instead bringing the game to 4-3 in Missoula's favor.

Wladimir Galindo would practically replicate what Rivero did as the very next batter, smoking a ball off the top of the wall in left-center to tie the game, and then after Roby Enriquez moved Galindo to third with a groundout to the right side, Nate Fisbeck would hit the third double of the inning to give Boise their 5-4 lead.

Things got sketchy in the ninth for the Hawks, who saw O'Conner hit a two-out double to keep the PaddleHeads dreams alive, but after getting to third on a wild pitch, Dand would strike out Nevarez to end the game and send the two sides to a winner takes all Game Three on Thursday night.

First pitch for Game Three of the 2021 PBL Championship is scheduled for 6:30 at Memorial Stadium, and Jayce Vancena is projected to start for the Boise Hawks, with the winner of the game being crowned PBL Champions for 2021.