NoCo Negates Mashing with Miscues in Tuesday's Loss

JOHNSTOWN, Colo. -- NoCo broke out the bats to break in their new home, but a late breakdown led to a loss in this series opener.

Tuesday's tussle turned out to be the Owlz (8-10) first home game at Nelson Farm Park, where they will finish the rest of their season. It started with bombs and ended with a blown lead. 

Grand Junction (14-5) scored 12 runs over the final four frames, capped by a six-run ninth inning to make the final score 18-11. Five of those Rockies runs went down as unearned after NoCo committed a season-high seven errors. 

Offensively, though they thumped three home runs. Of the Owlz 11 runs on the night, seven of them came courtesy of a cannon shot.

Tim Bouchard bopped two of them, tying himself for the team lead in homers. He's up to seven on the season. 

With those two taters, Bouchard joins Matthew Turner as the only Owlz this season with a pair of homers in a game. Turner hammered his first homer since that two-touch-em-all performance with a big fly in the fifth.

They wouldn't have hung all those RBI if not for all the birds on the bases. Through five innings, NoCo compiled 12 hits, leading to a 9-6 lead. 

When the Owlz starter stepped aside, his club led 9-7. 

Will Buraconak battled throughout six solid innings. It was a typical outing for the tallest Owl. He surrendered seven hits, meaning he's now allowed six or more in all of his starts. But Buraconak also fanned four, meaning he's struck out at least three batters in each of his starts this season. 

He gave up seven runs, five of which were earned. Buraconak's fallen victim to at least one unearned run in every start he's made since July 6. 

Still, he sat in line for the win after six innings. From there, Grand Junction put up three crooked numbers and took the win. 

The Owlz owned a lead until an error-affected eighth. It started with a throwing error to put the leadoff batter aboard. Another one two at-bats later plated two, giving Grand Junction a lead they wouldn't give up.

In the ninth, the Rockies added insurance to injury with that six-run slug to the jaw. Tuesday marks the second time in five games the Owlz have committed six or more errors. Since the start of the second half, the Owlz have allowed a league-high 28 unearned runs.

But, again, the birds nearly nullified all that with the bats. Bouchard and Turner led the way with four and three hits, respectively. Between them, they accounted for seven of the team's 16 hits. Bouchard brought in five RBI to set a new NoCo season high.

Marshall Rich recorded three ribbies, one more than Turner totaled in the game. The backstop batted 2-for-4 on the day to make it happen. Abdel Guadalupe went 2-for-3 in his home debut for the Owlz. 

Ty Lewis, coming off a scorching hot series in Springs, put together the final multi-hit night for NoCo. The first basemen bopped two hits, including a double. It's his eighth double in the last seven games.

Five more games await these two teams, meaning there's plenty of opportunity for the Owlz to right the ship. The next chance is Wednesday, when the Rockies return to Nelson Farm for another 6:05 p.m. first pitch. 

See you then!