Nevarez Drives in 3 to Highlight 7-2 Victory Over Ogden Thursday

Ogden, UT.- The Missoula PaddleHeads held the lead from the opening moments till the final out in a game 1 victory over the Ogden Raptors Wednesday. For the second consecutive night, Missoula would tack on a pair in the top half of the first and would never give up the lead at any point in a 7-2 victory.

After a single, and double from Brandon Riley and Clay Fisher in the first, a ground ball from Zach Almond would find a hole with two outs to drive both men home to give Missoula the early advantage 2-0 advantage. Almond would reach base three times in total finishing 1-for-2 with a pair of walks.

Dean Nevarez’s solid night at the plate kicked off in the second inning when he crushed the first pitch he saw in the inning to straight away left to give the PaddleHeads a 3-0 advantage. The solo bomb would travel a staggering 455 feet before coming to rest. Later in the fourth inning, Nevarez would knock in a pair on an RBI single to give the PaddleHeads a 6-1 advantage. The Southern California native would finish the night 2-for-4 with 3 driven in.

Missoula would add on to their advantage in the fifth thanks to an RBI single from Nick Gatewood to round out the scoring to make the score 7-2. The RBI gave Gatewood 80 on the season joining Zach Almond as the only other player on the team with that has at least 80 driven in. Gatewood would reach base 4 times in the contest finishing 3-for-3 with an RBI.

Mason Schwellenbach would make sure the Raptors would not have much of an opportunity to fight their way back in the contest allowing only 2 runs over 5 innings of work. The Michigan native was able to stay out of trouble thanks in part to a pair of double plays turned in the first, and third innings.

After Schwellenbach departed, the bullpen combination of Ezequiel De La Cruz, and Mark Simon would be more than up to the task in the final 4 innings of action. De La Cruz would allow a single to the first batter he faced in the sixth. However, De La Cruz would not allow a single man to reach after that in 2 1/3 innings of work. The former member of the Osprey would retire 7 consecutive batters in the outing striking out a pair.

Simon would strikeout 3 in 1 2/3 innings in his first appearance since coming off the inactive list to bring Missoula to the finish line. The Raptors were held off the board in the final 6 innings of the contest.

After a pair of wins the start the week, the PaddleHeads (54-29) (19-16) now find themselves tied with the Billings Mustangs (37-46) (19-16) for the lead in the second half standings in the Northern Division. Idaho Falls (53-31) (19-17) had an opportunity to go into the lead in the second half with a victory Thursday but ultimately fell short to the Boise Hawks.

Missoula will look to keep the momentum rolling in game 3 of the series opposite the Raptors (46-37) (17-18) Friday night. First pitch from Lindquist Field is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Hear the action on ESPN Missoula 102.9 F.M.

To Stay up to date on all the latest on the PaddleHeads on social media, visit gopaddleheads.com.