NoCo Hangs On with Homers, Survives Saturday's Showdown

OGDEN, Utah -- NoCo nullified a collapse with Nick Bottari's Knockout Round blow, surviving Saturday's skirmish to take its second game of the series.

Ogden (15-14) overcame a three-run deficit in the ninth to force NoCo's (11-17) fourth Knockout Round of the season. In it, Bottari batted first and blasted two big flies, enough to earn his team a win that looked in the bag for a bit. 

After starter Austin Schneider surrendered a spurt of second-inning hits that resulted in a Raptors (15-14) lead, the Owlz (11-17) held the home team to four total hits over the next six innings. 

During that stretch, NoCo captured the lead by going deep and stretched it by digging deep.

But it took a second to settle in. Following a first-inning lead for the Owlz, the Raptors retired 13 in a row.

NoCo's next hit came in the sixth. Abdel Guadalupe looped his second hit of the contest to center. Just an innocent single. Then, Kevin Higgins struck out on a wild pitch and ended up on first. Not ideal, but no big deal. 

Bottari bashed a big dinger an at-bat later, hitting the scoreboard with his second homer of the series. By throttling that three-run bomb, Bottari put the birds back on top, 5-4. 

So Schneider left the game with the lead. When the starter stepped aside, he'd fought through five innings and fanned a season-high six. He'd issued five walks and allowed four earned runs on six hits. 

CJ Grant-Debose breezed through the next two innings, punching out a pair and giving up a pair of pokes. That took his team to the eighth, where a crucial crooked number cooked up some insurance runs. 

That's the inning Brandon Crosby cranked a pinch-hit single that plated two. Crosby came around to score on Marshall Rich's ribbie, and the birds ballooned the lead to four. 

William Kirwan coughed up a run in the eighth, but he left breathing room by leaving with an 8-5 lead. He struck out two of the five batters he saw.

Christian Griffin grooved two strikeouts of his own, but they came after the collapse. The Raptors used three hits to tie things up and send Saturday's showdown to a home run duel.

Collectively, Saturday saw a good outing from Owlz arms. The pitching staff stranded 13 Raptors runners, tying the team's season high mark. The last time they did that was July 13 v. Grand Junction. They did it partially by striking out 12 batters, one shy of tying the season high in that stat too.

The hurlers may not have hung on at the end, but ultimately the Owlz hung enough hits. Double their hit total from Friday's game, to be exact.

With the win, the good guys grabbed a 3-1 record in Knockout Rounds. That includes two wins against Ogden. 

Guadalupe and Rich included two hits against Ogden in their Saturday stat lines. Bottari and Crosby combined for five of NoCo's seven RBI. 

Higgins hit the 100 hit mark with a single in the eighth inning. He's the first NoCo Owlz batter to bank 100 hits in a season. Dont forget: he leads the team in average (.373), RBI (48), and runs scored (54) too.

A night after drawing zero walks, the Owlz drew three in this one. Compare that total to the 13 times they struck out.

But that disparity doesn't matter. A win is a win, especially when it takes the kind of battle Bottari and the boys supplied on Saturday. 

Their next chance to build on it will be Sunday's series finale. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. from Lindquist Field.