Raptors Roll to Third Win of Series

OGDEN, Utah -- Two pitching debuts devolved into a deficit way too difficult for an Owlz offense that offered only five hits to overcome. 

Ogden (15-13) slapped five hits in their seven-run fifth inning alone. Meanwhile, NoCo (10-17) recorded one at-bat all game with a runner in scoring position.

After the Owlz (10-17) scored on a couple errors in the first, the Raptors replied with 14 unanswered runs. That output provided the 14-1 final score.

Ogden starter Christian Day (W, 7-3) made it a tough night for NoCo. Day delivered eight innings and surrendered a single earned run. He finished one inning short of the fifth complete game thrown against these Owlz this season.

And Day threw but 90 pitches through those eight innings. He probably had a little gas left for the ninth, if needed. It would've been the first of those complete games to go all nine innings. 

Opposite Odgen's savvy starter, Spenser Dexter (L, 0-1) made his Pioneer League debut and didn't get the breaks early on.

Bottom one, a hit batter-single-single combo tied the game. Then, a harmful hop. Once-an-Owl Brian Dansereau rolled a two-out grounder to short that took a terrible hop on Kevin Higgins.

That single rolled into left field and scored a run, but an errant throw from the outfield scored two. The runner on first had already high-tailed it home. Rounding second when the ball wound up in the dugout, Dansereau danced all the way around the bases to score. 4-1 Ogden.

From there, hits, rather than hops, damaged Dexter's day. He allowed six more hits and six more runs. When Tyler Fischer hopped on the hill for his own PBL debut, the hit parade persisted. In 0.2 innings, Fischer gave up four earned runs on four hits.

Dexter dished out three strikeouts while Fischer failed to record any. Dexter issued three walks while Fischer walked one. 

Two southpaws performed well after the duo of debuts. First, Isaiah Ramos struck out the side in the sixth. Chase Wilkerson went to work for the final two frames, also putting up three punch outs. That's six of the 11 batters those two lefties collectively faced. By the way, only one of those batters got a hit.

Cameron Phelts found the Owlz only run, that error-fueled first-inning one.

NoCo didn't draw one walk on this forgettable Friday. Now, they're walking into a weekend where they'll need both wins to avoid their 10th series loss of the season.

Saturday serves as their next chance to change that fortune. First pitch from Lindquist Field is scheduled for 7 p.m.