Owlz Issued Walks When It Mattered Most in Thursday's Loss

OGDEN, Utah -- Walks weighed heavy on Thursday's turbulent outcome, one where Ogden just narrowly outscored NoCo.

The Owlz (10-16) issued 11 walks in this 11-10 see-sawing spat. That total ties their season high for free passes in a game.

Worse than the total was the timing. Nine of NoCo's walks came between the fifth, sixth, and eighth innings.

All those innings played a major role in the Raptors' (14-13) win. Not so coincidentally, the Raptors racked up eight of their runs between those three innings. 

In the fifth, the teams traded three-spots. NoCo newbie Nick Bottari punctuated his team's three-run top half by hammering a homer that hit the scoreboard. Bottari's first bomb for the birds gave them a 6-3 lead.

But the Raptors responded by rattling off four hits, including a big fly of their own, to tie the game. 

NoCo couldn't get a baserunner during their turn in the sixth, but it gave away plenty of them in the bottom half. Three consecutive to start the inning, in fact, all thanks to walks. Ogden got three more runs across thanks to a bases-loaded fielder's choice and a two-run single. After six, 9-6 Raptors. 

The birds began clawing back in the seventh. Abdel Guadalupe and Tim Bouchard both bopped a hit to start the inning. Kevin Higgins hit home Guadalupe with an RBI groundout before Bottari bashed a double. All of a sudden, NoCo cut the lead to one.

By the eighth, the Owlz owned the lead. Guadalupe launched an RBI double and Brandon Crosby coaxed a bases-loaded walk to make it 10-9 NoCo. All three walks they drew in the game came in that eighth frame. 

But just as quickly as they benefitted from the walk bug, they got bit by it again. Two walks opened up Ogden's turn in the eighth. That gave way to the go-ahead run, which came around from first on a two-run double the very next at-bat.

The Owlz went down in order in the ninth, conceding another nailbiter a night after their all-time biggest road win against the Raptors. 

Wednesday's win saw 14 hits from the Owlz. Thursday actually included one more hit than that. Five Owlz managed multiple hits in the game, Guadalupe and Bouchard leading the way with three hits apiece. Higgins, Bottari, and Cameron Phelts each etched two of them in the game. 

Robbie Kellerman came away with three RBI, tying his season high. He did it through his first two at-bats: a two-run single in the second inning and a sac fly in the fourth. 

NoCo struck its hits, but it didn't hit its strikes. Its next chance to put it all together comes with Friday's contest. Game four of this six-game set is set for 7 p.m. from Lidquist Field.