Grand Junction Rockies Advance to Pioneer League Championship

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The Grand Junction Rockies survive and advance to the Pioneer League Championship Series.

The Rockies defeated the Ogden Raptors in Ogden to claim game three of the best of three divisional series.

The Rockies won game 1 in the friendly confines of Suplizio Field handedly, at a final score of 13-5. The Rockie bats gave Raptors starter Ronny Orta a less than warm welcome to Grand Junction, putting up eight runs through the first four frames. The Rockies never looked back cruising to an early series lead with the win.

Game 2 went the Raptors way, when they won 10-6 in Ogden. The game was tied in the 6th, ironically at 6-6. But the Raptors bats would come up big late, hitting three homeruns and driving in four runs.

In game three the Rockies fell behind early after a pair of Raptor homers put them behind at 4-1. From there things started to look bleak, as Raptor pitching put up back to back shutout innings. But the Grand Junction bats sprung to life in the 7th.

Things got started when outfielder Josh Elvir put a base hit into right field bringing two runs in and putting the Rockies down by just one run.

Then later in the inning outfielder Jake Cruce would hit another RBI this time into centerfield. Two runs would score giving the Rockies the lead at 5-4.

Grand Junction tacked on three more runs in the 8th, and survived a late Ogden rally to clinch game 3.

The Rockies will advance to take on the Missoula PaddleHeads who won their best of three series against the Billings Mustangs. Missoula is the defending PBL champions, and posted the best record in the league this year.