Mont, GREAT FALLS. With a second consecutive defeat against the 11-win Voyagers on Wednesday night, the Chukars’ problematic July continued.
The Chukars (26-17) have only won two of their last seven games since the start of July, and they have fallen behind a Missoula PaddleHeads squad that is going through a losing streak by 1.5 games in the playoff race.
Idaho Falls has now lost three straight games after losing 11-6 to the Voyagers (11-33) on Wednesday. Two of those losses came against a Great Falls team that had just nine victories overall going into the series and was barely making headway out of the cellar.
The struggling Idaho Falls pitching staff continued to struggle, giving up 15 hits and 11 runs to a team that still has the lowest team batting average (.263) in the league. Additionally, against a pitching staff with the second-highest ERA in the PBL (10.20), the Chukar offense, which leads the league in hitting (.377), could only generate 11 hits and six runs.
Even the defense has failed the Chukars during these recent setbacks, despite the fact that they still have the fifth-best fielding percentage (.966) of the season.
In his four innings pitched, starter Garrett Van Deventer (ND, 3,3) got hammered for eight hits and gave up six runs. First out of the bullpen, reliever Robert Hughes (L, 1-3) allowed four more hits and four runs in his two innings of work.
The Chukars still had time, as they were 10-6 going into the seventh inning. The offense, meanwhile, was never able to get things going.
Idaho Falls only had one continuous rally throughout the game, despite two hits each from Calyn Halvorson, Trevor Rogers, and Benjamin Rosengard, including Rogers’ two-run homer in the first inning. Four of the Chukars’ hits and two of the Voyagers’ mistakes resulted in four runs in the fifth inning. However, it was the extent of the infraction.
The Chukars, who are all but out of the running for a first-half playoff position, will need to win their game quickly if their chances of making the playoffs rest on their overall record.
In game three of the six-game series, the same two clubs will be back at Voyager Stadium on Thursday. At 7 p.m., the first pitch will take place.
Present PBL rankings1. The 33-11 Oakland Ballers2. PaddleHeads in Missoula (30-14)3. High Wheelers by Yuba-Sutter (29-15)4. Chukars of Idaho Falls (27–17)5. Hawks of Boise (26-18)6. The 25–18 Ogden Raptors7. Feelings of a Rocky Mountain (22-21)8. Jackalopes of Grand Junction (19–25)T9. Mustangs from Billings (16–28)T9. Riders of the Glacier Range (16–28)11. Voyagers of the Great Falls (11-33)12. Sky Sox of Colorado Springs (9-33)
