Karvandi and Smith Power Offensive Attack, Solid Pitching Keys Impact Sweep of Libby

LIBBY - Cole Smith crushed a three-run home run to break open a close game and sensational sophomore Nicholas Karvandi had five hits to lead the Missoula Impact Baseball Club to a convincing doubleheader sweep, 17-6 and 13-4, over the Libby Loggers on Saturday at the Lumber Yard.

Caleb Hoppe and Hunter Johns combined to strike out 16 to pace Missoula in the opener. Both right-handers struggled with their control during stretches but had nasty stuff, limiting the Loggers to two hits. Nolan Oschell tossed an efficient six innings of six-hit ball with one walk and nine strikeouts in the nightcap. Kody Evans struck out the side to seal the victory.

Oschell was particularly effective on the hill, mixing his pitches with excellent command. Missoula played sound defense with only one error in each game. Most impressively, Impact put on their best offensive display of the season, pounding out 18 hits.

Karvandi led the offensive onslaught, going 5-for-9 with five RBIs on the day, including a key two-run double. Dillon Gunlock and Joey Supola each tallied two hits in the opener. Marek Hall, Smith, and Evans each had two hits in the nightcap. Smith drove in four runs, Evans had a booming double and three RBIs, and Hall, Evans, Supola, Hoppe, and Landin Ramsey all had two RBIs.

“Things are really coming together and we’re starting to play Impact baseball,” said Ryan Roche, Missoula Impact Manager, of his team that has now won six of its last seven games. “The pitchers did a far better job at attacking hitters and throwing strikes, we cleaned it up defensively, and our offense continued to bring the energy.”

In the opener, Karvandi started and ended a nine-run explosion in the second inning, leading off with an infield single. Missoula used six walks and an RBI single by Cash Mickey to bat around. Karvandi then smoked a line drive two-run double to left field to cap the lengthy inning.

Hoppe struck out 11 in four innings of work but Libby took advantage of four consecutive walks, an infield single, and a throwing error to plate four runs, two earned, in the bottom of the third. Senior right-hander Johns retired the side in order in the fifth and Impact piled on with another four runs in the sixth, enabled by a flurry of walks and highlighted by an Evans sacrifice fly, to make it 14-4. Supola hammered a two-RBI single up the middle in the seventh to cap the scoring in the walks-marred contest.

In the nightcap, Oschell set the tone with five strikeouts in two perfect innings. Missoula jumped ahead 3-0 in the second on an RBI single by Karvandi and a two-run double to deep right-center by Hoppe. Libby struck back in the third with a walk and singles by Mason Crowe, Aiden Rose, Rusty Gillespie, and Tanner Wolfe to knot the score, 3-3.

Supola drew a walk and Hoppe was hit by a pitch to open the fourth. Smith, the Lake Region State College commit, then delivered the key blow of the day by drilling a fastball over the scoreboard in right field for a three-run home run to make it 6-3.

The inspired Missoula lineup promptly turned the game into rout with a walk by Ramsay, a screaming RBI double to deep right-center by Evans, and ultimately a clutch two-RBI single to right field by Hall to open the margin to 10-3.

Libby’s Brody Gilmore doubled and scored in the fourth but Oschell and Evans shut down the Loggers the rest of the way. Karvandi answered with a two-out single in the sixth and Hall drilled an RBI double down the left field line to make it 11-4.

In the seventh, Smith lined a single to right, Evans dropped in a bloop single, and Karvandi concluded his spectacular day with a 2-RBI single to center.

Missoula (9-5) travels to Canada this weekend for a pair of games on Saturday in Cranbrook, British Columbia. The road trip continues with a doubleheader against the Mission Valley Mariners on Sunday. In Cranbrook, Impact plays the host Cranbrook Bandits at 1:00 and the Lethbridge Elks AA American Legion team at 3:30. In Polson, Missoula squares off with a perennially tough Mission Valley squad for a doubleheader, first pitch at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon.