Smith's Lasers Spark Impact to 12-8 Victory over Billings UpperDeck Expos
BILLINGS – Cole Smith pounded out four hits and had five RBIs to lead the Missoula Impact Baseball Club to a convincing victory over the Billings UpperDeck Expos A, 12-8, in the Expos Tournament at Rocky Mountain College.
Smith’s 4-for-4 performance included three ringing line drives that drove in five runs in the first four innings, building an 8-1 lead that Missoula would not relinquish. Smith’s offensive fireworks backed a solid pitching performance by Carson Bay and Brennan Labbe who kept the game out of reach after Missoula built the early lead. Bay tossed 3 and 1/3 sharp innings, allowing only two earned runs. Labbe got some big outs in relief to keep the lead comfortably in hand.
Following the painful loss at dusk the previous evening to the host Expos AA team, Smith set the tone for the day in the top of the first inning. The sweet-swinging sophomore lefty hitter drilled an RBI double down the right field line to ignite a four-run outburst. With Bay dealing on the hill, Missoula kept the pressure on in the next frame. Hunter Johns laced a sharp single to center to start and Dillon Gunlock followed with a line drive single to center. After two outs and a walk to Henry Gibbs, Smith waited on a curveball and ripped a line drive, two-RBI single to right, extending the Impact lead.
It was more of the same in the fourth. Gunlock led off with a walk, Labbe smoked a line drive single to left-center, and Gibbs followed with a single to left. Smith capitalized again on the opportunity with runners in scoring position, stroking a line drive, two-RBI single to right-center to give Impact an 8-1 cushion. Billings utilized two Impact errors to score five runs in the fourth, but that was a close as they would get the rest of the day.
Missoula put the game out of reach in the top of the sixth inning with a seven-hit laser show. Labbe laced a leadoff single, Gibbs drilled an RBI double to deep left-center, Smith singled to center, and Matty Herzog crushed a two-run single to left-center. Luke Kunz, Easton Mitchell, and Gunlock tacked on singles that plated the final run of the four-run explosion. The Impact hitters tallied an impressive 14 hits on the day. In addition to Smith’s monster day, Labbe, Gunlock, and Gibbs each went 2-for-3 to lead Missoula.
By Dave Smith