Billings Rallies Late to Topple Missoula Impact in Series Finale
By Dave Smith
MISSOULA - Anthony Ferguson drilled a two-run home run to spark a late rally, leading the Billings UpperDeck Expos to a 12-5 victory over the Missoula Impact Baseball Club on Sunday morning in the rubber match of a three-gamer series. The Billings uprising spoiled a sparkling pitching performance by the Impact staff through the first four innings.
Nolan Oschell, Impact’s hard-throwing starter, was dominant in tossing 2 and 2/3 innings of hitless and scoreless ball, notching seven strikeouts. It was Oschell’s first outing coming off an arm Injury last season and he was on a short pitch count. The 6’3” junior right-hander displayed great velocity and a nasty breaking ball in handcuffing the Expos.
Missoula mounted an immediate threat in the first inning. Kody Evans reached on a strikeout passed ball, Oschell drilled a sharp single up the middle, and lefty Cole Smith smoked a line drive single to right field. However, Expos starter Waskar Capellan buckled down and escaped the based-loaded jam, a theme that would play out all day as Missoula left 14 runners on base.
Impact delivered in the next frame as Marek Hall laced a line drive single to right field leading off the second inning. Freshman Matthew Doty ripped a single up the middle, Nick Karvandi worked a walk on a full count to load the bases, and Landin Ramsay was hit by a pitch to open the scoring. Kody Evans delivered an RBI groundout to put Impact ahead, 2-0.
Oschell was dealing and Impact looked to be headed to a series-clinching win, but was unable to add insurance runs against Capellan. When Oschell hit his pitch count with two on and two out in the third, Hunter Johns was summoned from the bullpen and delivered a key strikeout, fanning Jakob Hansen to end the rally. Johns cruised the fourth inning in allowing a harmless single to Camden Borges and then retiring dangerous leadoff hitter Colton Wells on a groundout to keep the lead intact.
The tone of the game changed in the fifth when Ferguson, after a leadoff walk, smoked a line drive over the centerfield wall to quickly knot the score. John Dolan then singled, Guzman ripped an RBI double, and Tegan Murphy’s RBI single made it 5-2 after some shaky infield play by Impact. Billings added two unearned run in the sixth to take a 7-2 lead. Missoula bounced back to cut the gap to 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth by working five free passes, including RBI walks by Oschell and Smith. However, the Expos put the game away in the final frame with singles by Wells, Dolan, Guzman, and a double by Hansen.
Missoula was led at the plate by Oschell and Doty who each delivered a 2-for-4 day. Smith, Hall, and Evans added hits. Hall, the talented sophomore, was robbed of hits twice on a diving catch on a soft liner to right field and a tremendous fielding play by the pitcher, Hansen, on a beautiful bunt that Hall dropped down the third base line to lead off the seventh inning. Dolan and Guzman led Billings with two hits each. Capellan turned in a nice performance, spacing five hits and two runs over 4 and 2/3 innings.
“Capellan pitched extremely well and kept our guys off balance, but we were able to tough it out and string together some good at bats and score some runs,” said Ryan Roche, Missoula Impact Manager. “Oschell and Johns gave us a fighting chance with an outstanding performance on the mound. We again just need to make adjustments defensively and we’ll come out on top every time.”
The teams battle again this weekend with a three-game series at the new UpperDeck Expos field in Billings. The action starts with a doubleheader at 3:00 on Saturday and wraps up with a single game on Sunday morning at 10:00. Billings has two players with college offers and two more that are being actively recruited, so it will be another stiff test for the young Impact squad.