Excellent Eyes and Better Bats Lead to Owlz Blowout Win

JOHNSTOWN, Colo. -- The Owlz walked almost as many times as they got a hit on Tuesday. And they got a lot of hits.

NoCo (18-26) rocked Raptors (20-24) pitching throughout the duration of this dominant dub, which ended 15-4. Every single batter banked at least one hit. Eight of them recorded at least one RBI. Seven of them drew at least one walk.

They logged 11 walks in all, a new NoCo season high.

The birds batted around twice - in the third and sixth innings. They throttled third-inning pitching to the tune of five runs via six hits. The sixth saw both firepower and free passes. On top of drawing six sixth-inning walks, Brandon Crosby clobbered a grand slam, the Owlz third granny of the campaign. They scored eight runs in that frame.

Tuesday's tussle became NoCo's first 15-run performance since smacking Ogden around for 19 runs back on August 17. 

But all that offense overshadowed Will Buraconak's (W, 5-3) curtain call. As the curtain falls, Buraconak staked his claim as this club's ace, and Owlz fans got one last taste on Tuesday. 

The gentle giant jumped into the team lead in wins. He struck out seven, extending his team lead in that category as well. Weigh that against one walk across his six solid innings.

Buraconak did allow eight hits and four earned runs, including two solo homers, but that's nothing compared to his counterpart. 

The Owlz rattled Ronny Orta (L, 7-6) right away and kept at it for his entire 2.2 innings of work. Entering Tuesday, Orta had torched NoCo. Three of his seven wins have come against these Owlz, and he hadn't pitched fewer than 5.1 innings through four starts. 

Most recently, he pitched an exeptional eight innings on August 16, going blow for blow with Buraconak in a narrow Raptors win. 

Only one of those starters sustained that success again on Tuesday. And it wasn't Ogden's ace. NoCo knocked him all over the place. 

But it wasn't just Orta the birds obliterated. Ogden used five pitchers. None of them pitched longer than Orta's 2.2 innings.

On the Owlz side, CJ Grant-Debose and LJ Diaz did the relieving. They fanned five of the 14 batters they collectively faced over the final three innings. Grant-Debose dealt out four of those K's. He and Diaz walked one batter apiece and allowed only three hits between them. 

Speaking of hits, Tim Bouchard has at least one in 16-straight games. That's the longest active hit streak in the Pioneer League. He's also added an RBI in each of his last three games. 

Alex Jackson tagged a team-high three hits in this one. It's his seventh three-hit game of the season and 24th multi-hit game overall. 

Crosby's sixth-inning slam gives him 11 homers, tying Jackson for the team lead. He's smacked four extra-base hits across his last four games, including a tater in the last two. 

I could keep going, but you get the gist. The Owlz offense was awesome in this one, and the result was a fourth-straight win at home.

Also worth mentioning: because Robby Bales had to serve a suspension, pitching coach JT Mossberg had to serve as the skipper in his stead. Bales got ejected on Friday night, causing him to miss Tuesday's game. 

Thus, the 11-run drubbing became pitching coach JT Mossberg's first win as a manager.

He's back to his normal duties of running a red-hot pitching staff when Wednesday rolls around. That night's game, the third of this season-ending six-game set, is scheduled to start at 6:05 p.m.

Snag yourself a seat, all of which cost just $10, and we'll see you on Wednesday!