The Billings Mustangs defeat the Missoula Paddleheads in game one of the best-of-three playoff series by a score of 8-5.
Karan Patel receives the win, tossing five innings giving up four runs, three earned, on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
Alfredo Villa, the Pioneer Baseball League Pitcher of the Year hopeful, went four innings giving up six runs, four earned, on eight hits with three walks and three punchouts. He receives the losing decision.
Mustang right-hander Trevor Jackson picks up a save with two innings giving up just one hit and a walk.
The Paddleheads took a 1-0 lead in the first. Keaton Greenwalt reached on catcher?s interference. With one out, Luis Navaro scored Greenwalt from second following a 3-1 walk to Josh Elvir, and the Paddleheads led early.
Missoula kept up the pressure in the second when Austin Bernard led off the inning with a single, and Cameron Thompson walked. Ryan Cash laid down a perfect bunt down the third base line to move both runners into scoring position. Greenwalt scored Bernard to make it 2-0, while Dondrei Hubbard knocked home Cameron Thompson to go up 3-0.
The Mustangs fought back in the home half of the second with Alejandro Figueredo?s lead-off walk, while Mitch Moralez picked up a double. Luke Fennelly knocked both of them home on a single to bring Billings within a run.
Patel settled in over the next three innings of work. After a leadoff walk to Luis Navarro in the third, Patel retired seven batters in a row into the fifth. While that happened, the Mustangs took advantage.
In the third, Gabe Wurtz picked up a one-out double, while Figueredo hit him home with a triple. Moralez brought home Figueredo on a sac fly to right to go up 4-3.
Blake Evans led off the fifth by reaching on an error by the third baseman Thompson. Taylor Lomack laid down a sac bunt, and John Michael Faile picked up a two-out walk. Wurtz picked up his second double of the night which scored Evans, while Figueredo brought home Faile to give the Mustangs a 6-3 lead.
Patel did give up a run in the fifth on a solo, one out homer by Elvir to pull the Paddleheads within two runs. The Mustangs answered with a two out walk by Evans. He stole second on a 2-2 count. Lomack knocked him home on a ground ball up the middle to go back up by three - a score of 7-4.
McLain Harris receives a hold out of the pen, though he did give up a lead-off homer to Austin Bernard. On a 1-0 count, he smoked a pitch over the right-field wall to make it a 7-5 game.
Keagan McGinnis struck out the side in the seventh inning while only giving up a two-out single to Jakob Guenther, who did not score.
Trevor Jackson allowed the leadoff man Bernard to reach on a single in the eighth, and Cash picked up a one-out walk. Jackson responded with back-to-back punchouts to preserve the lead.
With Ethan Swanson on the mound for the Paddleheads in the bottom of the eighth, and the Mustangs searching for insurance, Wurtz picked up his fourth hit of the night to score Brendan Ryan, who led off the inning hit by a pitch and the Mustangs led 8-5.
Jackson induced two outs on contact in the ninth - a line drive by Elvir to left, while Navarro grounded out to Moralez at third. With two outs, Guenther picked up an eight-pitch walk to put the pressure on.
In a full count on McLain O?Connor, Jackson sliced a vulcan changeup away from O?Connor, who whiffed at it to give the Mustangs the win.
The Paddleheads host the Mustangs for game two of the best-of-three playoff series starting at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday. You?ll find coverage at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN910/105.5 KBLG or ESPN910.com. You can also watch every pitch on FloSports.