The Birds returned from a seven-game roadtrip to find western Montana in flames and the Missoula Valley cloaked in smoke. That didn't stop the minor league baseball team from winning its second game in a row Thursday evening.
The Osprey used some early offense, a sensational defense and workman-like pitching to beat Ogden 8-4 as 2,188 fans braved a windy, ash-swept Ogren-Allegiance Park to watch a Pioneer League baseball game.
The smoky valley was a little surprising to some of the players.
“It's tough to play when the skies are all gray,” Missoula first baseman Chance Wheeless said. “It was dreary in Orem, but that had less to do with smoke. This stuff is tough to breath.”
One of four Osprey players with two hits, Wheeless said the players got used to the smoke by the time they were through with their pre-game warm-ups.
Missoula general manager and vice president Matt Ellis said he's become the Pioneer League's “guru of smoke conditions” because of western Montana's recent fire seasons. He monitors the particulate in the air for the league and said Thursday's reading was the worst one of the season, ranging from 145 in the afternoon to 195 during the game. It takes a particulate reading of 300 to cancel a game, Ellis said.
“Sometimes it hurts,” Wheeless postured. “It makes your throat dry.”
The Osprey broke their recent dry spell with Thursday's series opener. The team suffered a series of weird losses on its Utah trip. Ejections, one-run games and an awkward ending to one loss actually helped the Birds.
“We rallied behind our trials and tribulations that we had in Orem,” Wheeless said. “We just got plain mad about it. This team is starting to come into its own. Now we're going to take advantage of it and turn things around.”
Missoula starter Tom Layne pitched six full innings and earned his first victory in three starts. Layne (4-6) allowed two runs on eight hits and only struck out three batters, but he kept his team in the game - especially during a fourth-inning jam.
A double play started by O's shortstop Reynaldo Navarro ended a bases-loaded situation. The 17-year-old Puerto Rican grabbed a high hop to start a shortstop-to-second-to-first base double play to end the threat.
“A big part of that is the pitcher getting ground balls,” Wheeless said. “If they're attacking the zone and getting ground balls, it's easy for us.”
Two batters earlier, Tycen PoVey grounded to Navarro and the same high hop got the better of the young infielder, but the tricky hop was ruled a single as the Birds didn't record an error. It's been six games since the O's didn't commit an error.
“Any time you play error-free there's a chance of winning,” Wheeless said.
Navarro was impressive with the bat, too. He had an RBI single as Missoula scored twice in the fifth to go ahead 7-2. Navarro added a sac fly in the seventh.
The O's grabbed a 5-1 lead with a three-run third. Derrick Walker's two-run triple was the highlight there. Walker joined Wheeless and Sean Coughlin and Anthony Smith with two hits each. Coughlin and Smith also had RBI hits.
Ogden cut Missoula's lead to 2-1 on Travis Vetters' sacrifice fly in the third.
The Birds scored once in each of the first two innings on a Coughlin RBI single and Wheeless came home in the second on a wild pitch by Ogden starter Rodney Brantley.
Notes: The Osprey have only had one game postponed by smoky conditions in their history.
Reporter Nick Lockridge may be reached at 523-5298 or by e-mail at nick.lockridge@lee.net
Ogden MISSOULA
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Rosario cf 3 0 0 1 Clifford cf 3 0 0 0
Herrera 2b 4 0 1 1 Rumler 3b 4 1 1 1
Garabedian dh 4 1 2 0 Harbin 2b 4 1 0 0
Ortiz 1b 4 0 1 0 Coughlin dh 4 1 2 1
Vetters rf 4 1 1 2 Walker rf 4 1 2 2
Jansen c 5 0 1 0 Smith lf 3 2 2 1
Gallagher 3b 5 0 0 0 Wheeless 1b 2 2 2 0
Fuller ss 3 2 3 0 Musselman c 2 0 1 0
Povey lf 4 0 3 0 Navarro ss 3 0 1 2
Totals 36 4 12 4 Totals 29 8 11 7
Ogden 001 100 011 - 4
Missoula 113 020 10x - 8
E-Brantley. DP- Ogden 1, Missoula 1. LOB-Ogden 12, Missoula 9. 2B-Fuller, Povey; Coughlin. 3B-Walker. HR-Vetters. SB-Fuller; Rumler. SH-Musselman. SF-Rosario.
IP H R ER BB SO
Ogden
Brantley (L, 1-1) 2.1 4 5 4 4 1
Gray 2.2 5 2 2 1 2
Haldis 3.0 2 1 1 3 1
Missoula
Layne (W, 4-6) 6.0 8 2 2 2 3
Scribner 2.0 2 1 1 2 4
Prihoda 1.0 2 1 1 0 0
HBP- Ortiz (by Layne); Rumler (by Brantley. WP- Haldis. PB-Jansen; Musselman.
Umpires-HP: Brandon Misun. 1B: Koyu Inoue.
T-2:52. A-2,188.
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