Voyagers Fend Off Brewers Comeback

GREAT FALLS, MT - The Great Falls Voyagers scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to snap a 1-1 tie, and went on to defeat the Helena Brewers 5-2 on Friday night at Centene Stadium.

The Voyagers victory opened a series of eight straight games between the North Division rivals that will shift back and forth between Great Falls and Helena over the course of the next week.

For the second straight start, Nattino Diplan allowed just one run over his first four innings of work before coming unglued in the fifth. The right-hander allowed back-to-back singles to begin the inning before surrendering a two-run triple to Aaron Schnurbusch and a two-run home run to Brady Conlan. 

Blake Fox took over in the fifth and did not allow a run in two innings of work. Dalton Brown pitched two scoreless innings of his own to keep the Brewers in the game.

Helena scored it's first run on a Nathan Rodriguez sacrifice fly in the fourth, and Rodriguez also plated the second run when he grounded into a double play with the bases load in the eighth. 

The Brewers could not find a clutch hit, going 0-for-9 as a team with runners in scoring position.

Wes Wilson led the Helena offense with a 4-for-4 night that saw him finish a home run shy of the cycle. Wilson is 7-for-8 over his last two games played with a pair of triples. His six triples this season are more than half of the Brewers 10 as a team.

Game two of the series will feature left-hander Cameron Roegner on the hill for Helena with game time set for 7:00 Saturday night in Great Falls.