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Center fielder Ben Roberts helped turn a near disaster into to a come-from-behind victory for the Class AA Missoula Mavericks on Wednesday night at Lindborg-Cregg Field.

After the Mavs blew a two-run lead to the Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs in the top of the ninth and fell behind 6-4, Missoula scored twice in the ninth to force an extra inning and Roberts' bases-loaded single in the 10th sent Missoula to a 7-6 victory.

Roberts finished the evening with a homer and an RBI double in addition to his game-winner to finish 3-for-4 with three driven in as the Mavericks gutted out a Western Conference victory that moved them to 10-1 in league play and 40-16 overall. But the home team's sixth straight win didn't come easy.

Missoula starter Brendan Brown labored through 8 2/3 innings and tired late. With a 4-2 lead in the ninth, a one-out double by Branden Anhorn was followed by a two-out hit by pitch and a walk. That led Missoula manager Brent Hathaway to call on Jake Schilling to relieve.

Back-to-back singles by Mitchell Frey and Lee Fruson put the Moose Monarchs, who entered winless in conference play in 10 tries, ahead 6-4.

But the Mavs battled back against Frey in the bottom of the ninth. A Roberts double scored Taylor King before a wild pitch and Sean Dwyer's sacrifice fly to right plated Roberts with the tying run.

After Schilling pitched a scoreless 10th, Missoula went back to work. Kendal Maier and pinch hitter Cody Burgmeier drew consecutive walks to start the frame and King reached on a bunt to load the bases. That brought Roberts to the plate and he delivered a liner to left to end it.

Schilling earned the win and boosted his mark to 5-4.

Dwyer closed the evening 2-for-4 and boosted his team-leading RBI total to 62 with two more. Brown doubled and drove in one for Missoula.

Medicine Hat, which outhit Missoula 12-10, received a 4-for-5 effort from Frey. He drove in three, while Lee Fruson added an RBI and a pair of singles. Cullen Bradshaw tripled and went 2-for-3 from the Medicine Hat leadoff spot.

The Moose Monarchs visit Lindborg-Cregg for a single nine-inning contest Thursday at 1 p.m.

Med. Hat 100 000 014 0 - 6 12 3

Missoula 100 020 012 1 - 7 10 2

Joel Lutz, Dave Cullham (2), Riley Arnott (5), Branden Anhorn (5), Mitchell Frey (9) and Austin Fruson. Brendan Brown, Jake Schilling (9) and Sean Dwyer. W - Schilling (5-4). L - Frey.

MEDICINE HAT- Cullen Bradshaw 2-3, Frey 4-5, Lee Fruson 2-3, Lutz 0-1, Cullham 0-1, Arnott 1-3, A. Fruson 1-5, Anhorn 1-3, Katlin Nunweiler 1-3, Kyle Telke 0-2, Connor Bradshaw 0-1.

MISSOULA - Taylor King 1-4, Ben Roberts 3-4, Brown 1-2, Dwyer 2-4, Sam Sopko 1-3, Matt McMann 1-2, Taylor Nordby 1-3, Drew Lytle 0-4, Kendal Maier 0-3, Cubby Pierre 0-3, Cody Burgmeier 0-0, Andy Freeman 0-0.

2B - A. Fruson, Anhorn, Roberts, Brown, Sopko. 3B - Cu. Bradshaw. HR - Roberts (4) . RBIs - Frey 3. L. Fruson, Arnott, Roberts 3, Brown, Dwyer 2.

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