Missoula erased a 1-0 deficit with four runs in the eighth, the final three scoring when center fielder Carlos De La Cruz misplayed a bases-loaded fly ball by Sean Smith, batting ninth in the O's order. The Osprey added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth, and received strong relief pitching from Matt Krohe and Daniel Stange to wrap up their first series of the season on a winning note.
Krohe (2-0) has both of the O's victories in the early going, while Stange struck out three of the six batters he faced to earn his first professional save.
The breakthrough came in the eighth when O's cleanup hitter Jose Dijol led off with a long single to left and Andrew Fie followed with a single to right. Matt Oxendine looped a one-out flare over the infield to score Dijol, the runners advancing when De La Cruz threw off-line to home plate.
After Helena intentionally walked Connor Janes to load the bases, Smith lined a 2-0 pitch from reliever Chris Toneguzzi to center field. De La Cruz misplayed the ball, allowing it to sail over his head and roll all the way to the fence as Fie, Oxendine and Janes romped around the bases to put the Osprey ahead 4-1.
Helena closed within 4-2 in the eighth when Andy Bouchie doubled off Krohe for the game's only extra-base hit, moved to third on a ground out, and scored on JR Hopf's sacrifice fly.
But Missoula struck for a pair of insurance runs in the ninth on a walk, Gerardo Parra's single, a wild pitch and Dijol's sacrifice fly.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Stange, a seventh-round draft pick out of UC Riverside, used a 93-mph fastball to strike out two Brewers in the ninth, ending the game by whiffing Chris Errecart on the outside corner.
The O's drew five walks from Helena starter Shawn Ferguson, but scraped together just two singles over the first seven innings to trail 1-0. Missoula right-hander Dan Fournier, an 11th-round pick from Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, pitched five scoreless innings in his first start, but reliever Jason Neighborgall couldn't find the plate in the sixth, issuing two walks and two wild pitches in just one-third of an inning.
Helena pushed across a run when Errecart walked, advanced to second on a balk, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch. Krohe pitched the O's out of a bases-loaded jam, inducing the Brewers into a pop fly and a ground out.
NOTES: Missoula's six runs were its second highest total of the season. ... Perales and Oxendine lead the O's in batting at .375, followed by Fie at .353. Fie leads the team with four RBIs. ... The Osprey complete their road swing Saturday and Sunday at Great Falls, before returning to Missoula for their home opener Monday night against the Billings Mustangs. ... Right-hander Hector Ambriz, the highest draft choice on the O's roster, draws his first start of the season on Saturday. The Placentia, Calif., product was selected in the fifth round after going 8-7 last season for UCLA.
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