Mustangs Stymied in 5-1 Defeat on Thursday Night

BILLINGS-Gabe Wurtz joined an exclusive club of Mustangs with his 20^th home run of the season and Pablo Arevalo threw 6.0 strong innings, but the Billings Mustangs were stymied the rest of the night by the Missoula Paddleheads pitching staff as Missoula pulled away for a 5-1 win on Thursday night at Dehler Park.

After Billings (18-15, 43-36) took the series opener, Missoula (23-10, 58-22) has now taken the last two contests, dealing the Mustangs consecutive losses for the first time in nearly three weeks.

In the second inning, the Mustangs took an early lead against Missoula starter Mitch Sparks. Wurtz jumped on a first-pitch fastball and lined it over the left-field wall. The solo home run was his 20^th of the season, making him just the tenth Mustang all-time to reach that benchmark and the first since Brandon Waring in 2007.

In the third, though, Missoula took the lead against Arevalo. McClain O'Connor doubled with one out, but Pablo Arevalo struck out the following hitter. Following a walk, Nick Gatewood lined a pitch into right field and O'Connor scored just ahead of the throw. One batter later, Kamron Willman dumped a single into right that scored a run.

Missoula had a chance to break things open as another walk loaded the bases for Andrew Noviello. However, Arevalo induced a soft line drive to second to end the inning and limit the damage to two runs.

With the score 2-1 Missoula, both pitchers settled in. Arevalo settled down to retire the last eight hitters he saw as he worked 6.0 innings of two-run ball, while tying his season high of seven strikeouts.

On the other side, Spark stymied the Mustangs by inducing soft contact all night. The left-hander induced three double plays and recorded 14 of his 18 outs on the ground.

In the seventh, the Mustangs had a golden opportunity to draw even. Juan Teixeira led off with a triple to deep center that chased Sparks. Against MSU-Billings alum Tyler Elliott, Wurtz grounded to short for the first out. Andrew Fernandez followed with a soft grounder to third. Teixeira broke towards the plate, but third baseman Cameron Thompson made a perfect throw home to cut down Teixeira.

Missoula then added an insurance run in the top of the eighth. The Paddleheads strung together three hits, with the final one being a bloop single by Andrew Noviello that fell in left-center, extending their lead to 3-1.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Mustangs mounted one more threat as two walks put the tying run aboard for Jalen Garcia, but Sam Hellinger came on and struck out Garcia to end the inning.

Missoula then tacked on two more on Jayson Newman's league-leading 31^st home run in the top of the ninth before Hellinger navigated around a leadoff single to throw a scoreless ninth to cap off a 5-1 win.

The Mustangs will play game three against the Missoula Paddleheads on Friday night at Dehler Park. Billings will start Kelvan Pilot (6-4, 4.65) while Missoula will throw LHP Austin Crowson (6-0, 4.65). Pregame on Friday on the home of the Mustangs, ESPN 910/105.5 FM with Brennan Mense will begin at 6:15 ahead of a 6:35 p.m. first pitch.