[Empty Body]
The Chukars have found their home away from home in Montana. Idaho Falls opened up a seven-game roadtrip with a 7-1 win in Great Falls on Thursday night.
The game started off as a swift pitchers' duel. The game was scoreless after the first five innings of play, which took less than an hour and a half.
Dillon Drabble made his second start for the Chukars and his first on the road. His final line was 5 innings pitched, with 5 hits allowed, no runs, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.
Idaho Falls struck first in the top of the sixth inning against Great Falls starter, Kyle Von Ruden. Travis Jones hit an RBI single to plate Matt Morales, who reached base via a leadoff double. Von Ruden's final line was 6 innings, 6 hits, 1 run (which was earned) no walks and 5 strikeouts.
Geoffrey Bramblett came on in relief of Drabble and retired the first seven batters he faced. Of his first 22 pitches in the sixth and seventh innings, 19 were strikes.
The Chukars held that 1-0 lead until the bottom of the eighth. Voyagers' DH Franklin Reyes hit an RBI single off of Bramblett to tie the game at 1-1. Neither team scored in the ninth, which sent the game to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Idaho Falls erupted. They sent ten men to the plate and scored six runs. Cristhian Vasquez led off with a single, and scored after Morales reached on an error by Great Falls third baseman Amado Nuñez. Morales was at third as a result of that play. He was then driven in on an RBI double by Offerman Collado.
The Chukars tacked on four more runs in that frame thanks to another RBI single by Jones, a sac fly RBI off the bat of Chris Hudgins and a two-run double from Logan Gray.
Andrew Beckwith came on to pitch the bottom of the tenth. He fired a scoreless frame and struck out the final two Voyagers to end the game. With its first win of the second half, Idaho Falls is now 9-6 against the North and 3-1 in extra inning contests. With Orem and Ogden victories, they are still two games out of first place in the second half.
"Our pitchers did a nice job for us tonight," said Idaho Falls manager, Justin Gemoll. "Our offense came up with some timely hits late in the game to give us the lead."
For the Chukars offensively, Freddy Fermin, Jones, Tyler Straub, Gray and Vasquez all had two-hit games. Straub and Jones both stole two bases and Gray swiped on as well. Straub is third in the Pioneer League with 13 stole bases on the season.
Idaho Falls' three starting offensive players for the Pioneer League in the Pioneer League/Northwest League all-star game on Tuesday (Robby Rinn, Amalani Fukofuka and Darrell Miller, Jr.) all had the night off.
The Chukars and Voyagers play game two of their series on Friday night. Julio Pinto (2-5, 10.98 ERA) takes the mound for Idaho Falls against Adam Panayotovich (1-4, 5.31 ERA) in a battle of right-handed pitchers.
You can listen to the broadcast on Friday night with Logan Ratick on KSPZ, The Sports Zone (ESPN Radio) on 980 AM and 105.1 FM in the Upper Valley, and 94.5 FM in the Pocatello area. All broadcasts stream live on 980thezone.com, as well as on KSPZ via the TuneIn app and at tunein.com. Pregame coverage begins at 6:45 PM MT, followed by first pitch between the Voyagers and Chukars at 7:00 PM at Centene Stadium.
