Owlz Eek out Vibes in Double-Header

By Hudson Ridley

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.

The Rocky Mountain Vibes suffered two nail biting defeats in Wednesday's double-header with the Northern Colorado Owlz. Rocky Mountain fell 4-3 in a nine-inning season opener, and then again 9-8 in a seven-inning game later that day. 

The first matchup of this four game stretch began on Tuesday night. The Vibes had no issues getting their bats going early as a Dusty Stroup home run to right field put the away side up early. After that the scoring grinded to a halt, due in large part to a stellar outing from Vibes starting pitcher Christian Scafidi. The right hander went three innings only allowing one hit, a Payton Robertson home run in the third.

Halfway into the fourth inning it became clear that the lighting at Future Legends Field in Windsor, CO wasn't sufficient for the rest of the game to be played. Both teams agreed to a double header the next day, much to the chagrin of Scafidi who had already racked up five strikeouts in the first three innings.

When play resumed the next day Scafidi was replaced by Adam Moraga who had some pretty similar success. In the righty's first professional appearance of the year he pitched three innings, allowed two hits, and one lone run coming off of the bat of former Vibe Josh Glenn. Glenn's double narrowed the Vibes lead to one (3-2) in the bottom of the fifth. 

Down the stretch the Vibes offense, or lack thereof, proved to be the deciding factor. Other than a Dusty Stroup RBI in the top of the fifth, no runs came across for Rocky Mountain in Wednesday's first game. The three runs tallied ties the lowest number of runs the Vibes scored against the Owlz last year. 

The tide turned in favor of NoCo in the bottom of the eighth when another Payton Robertson home run knotted things at three. The Owlz then took the lead later that inning when Rocky Mountain failed to turn a double play allowing Johnathan Hodo to scamper home. That final run gave NoCo a 4-3 lead which they would never relinquish.

An hour after that close Game One the Vibes and Owlz got underway on a second leg. Connor Woods started on the mound for Rocky Mountain while Jacob Walker toed the bump for NoCo. Once again the Vibes took no time getting started with a Brandon Trammell three run blast in the top of the first. 

Later, in the bottom of the second the Owlz responded to the Vibes early success with four runs. Three of those four runs were put into scoring position on steals of second base as Rocky Mountain struggled defensively early on.

The best way to counteract some less than stellar defense is an even better offense and the Vibes bats stayed hot to do so. Home runs from Brady West and Ethan Lopez with a Casey Petersen RBI extended Rocky Mountain's lead to 7-4. A couple more innings of scoreless baseball had spirits riding high, but then a little bit of deja vu hit. 

The flood gates opened in the bottom of the sixth as the Owlz drove three runs across. The first came off of Woods who was then pulled after allowing four runs in five innings. Dutch Landis came on in relief but was pulled after one inning following a Josh Glenn two run shot. 

Things were knotted at seven entering the final inning of a scheduled seven-inning second game. Jacob Barfield drove in Ethan Lopez with two out in the top of the seventh giving the Vibes a one run lead heading into the bottom of the frame.

With Alexis Cedano on the mound, Rocky Mountain had a chance to score its first win of the young season. Unfortunately for the Vibes that all came crashing down. A passed ball allowed the tying run to score. Then with two outs in the bottom seventh Abdel Guadelupe sent a single into center field, causing an eruption in the Owlz dugout and handing the Vibes back-to-back losses to open the season.

The Rocky Mountain Vibes are back in action with games three and four of this series taking place at 5:05 both tonight and tomorrow night.