Chukar bullpen implodes as PaddleHeads force decisive Game 3

MISSOULA, Mont. — The Chukars, one win from securing a spot in the Pioneer Baseball League Championship Series, took a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth.

Starter Nathan Hemmerling struggled a bit in the fifth but maintained the Idaho Falls lead. After a sixth-inning insurance run, Hemmerling (ND, 0-0) handed an 8-6 lead to the Chukar bullpen, which had been nearly untouchable for several weeks.

Ryan Faulks, Jake Dixon and Julien Hernandez combined to allow more runs (nine) than the Chukar bullpen, as a whole, had allowed in its last 36 innings of work (eight) before Saturday, while recording just one out.

Steven Ordorica escaped the inning without another Missoula run, but the damage had been done as the PaddleHeads snatched a 16-9 win.

Manager Troy Percival said, before the series began, that scoring against the Missoula late-inning relievers would be difficult, and that was the case Saturday. The Chukars scored nine runs in the first seven innings, pushing across at least one run in all but the second. But they were held to just one hit over the final two frames.

The Chukars were led offensively by Trevor Rogers, who homered for the second time in as many games. Anthony Mata and Johnny Pappas added their first homers of the series.

With their win, the PaddleHeads forced a winner-take-all Game 3, which will be played Sunday afternoon in Missoula — with first scheduled for 2 p.m.

Nathan Shinn will make the start for Idaho Falls.

Sunday’s winner to travel to Oakland to face the regular season champion Ballers. The Ballers beat the Ogden Raptors, 1-0, in Game 3 of that series.