Thrilling Third Inning Powers Owlz to First Win in NoCo

GREELEY, Colo. -- Three innings into the Owlz first home game in Northern Colorado, their first win was pretty much in the bag. 

Despite some recent blown saves, the Owlz (1-5) blew open Wednesday's game vs. Rocky Mountain (1-6) so bad, no one ever had a blown lead on their mind.

NoCo exploded for an eight-spot in the third off of Rocky Mountain's (1-6) Yosmel Naranjo (L, 0-2). That's the inning the two through nine hitters in the Owlz lineup all crossed home plate without recording an out. Alex Jackson, the leadoff hitter and lone man who didn't score, still contributed an RBI that inning. 

By their turn in the third, the Owlz had a 2-1 lead, thanks to back-to-back RBI rips from NoCo newcomer Mike Annone and Brian Dansereau an inning before. 

Another fresh face, Cameron Phelts, slapped a single to start off the huge third inning. After Euro Diaz walked, Alan Alonso attacked with an RBI single for the Owlz third run of the game. Ty Lewis walked to pack the sacks, and a bases-loaded walk from Danny Molinari earned him his club's next RBI. Then, Annone and Dansereau conked consecutive hits - Annone's a run-scoring single, Dansereau's a two-RBI triple - to make the lead 8-1. After that, a couple of RBI groundouts rounded out the Owlz scoring, giving them a 10-2 advantage at the time.

That was plenty of cushion for NoCo starter Christian Griffin when he re-entered the game for his final half inning. When Griffin got pulled in favor of Kyle Adkins, the six-foot-four-inch starter had surrendered two earned runs in 3.0 innings, fanning four Vibes batters along the way. Adkins took the hill and immediately induced a double play ball before striking out Miguel Tejada, Jr. to end his spotless inning of action.

Will Buraconak (W, 1-0) saw most of the action in the relief role. The lumbering lefty relieved Adkins and lasted 4.0 innings, the most among any Owlz reliever through six games this season. Buraconak blew it by five batters while only allowing two earned runs. Even more impressive, he didn't walk any of the game-high 19 batters he faced. 

Noah Parsons finished the job, pitching a three-up, three-down ninth inning that included one strikeout.

After a road trip where strikeouts plagued them at the plate, the Owlz struck out only four times Wednesday night. None of them happened before the sixth inning, and by that time, the damage was already done. 

Five batters for NoCo knocked two hits. Five batters also banked at least one RBI. Dansereau drove in a game-high three, making this one his best game with the Owlz so far.

He'll get a chance to follow it up in home game number two Thursday afternoon. First pitch between the Owlz and Vibes is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. right back at Jackson Field.