Raptors Roll to Two More Wins and Another Double-Header Sweep

GREELEY, Colo. -- Ogden owned another double-header day, dropping the Owlz twice and delivering NoCo its fifth series loss this season.

Game One

By the time the Owlz scored their first run, the Raptors unraveled 11 of their own, sustaining this series' swinging success.

Sixteen runs + sixteen hits + eight walks = four-straight wins for Ogden (23-17).

All four have come against the Owlz (17-23), who've now had a position player pitch in three of their last four games. It's just been those kind of games as of late.

The true pitchers on NoCo's staff struggled early. Kida De La Cruz (L, 1-3) conceded seven walks and six hits in his 2.2 innings of work. Those free passes, plus the six hits he surrendered, helped put 11 Raptors runs on the board. Ten of those runs were earned.

Hector Yan followed De La Cruz, and Ogden followed up with four more runs. Yan looked better on Saturday than his Friday foray, where he walked five-straight batters. On Saturday, he struck out four, but he also got bit by the hit-bug. Yan allowed a homer, three doubles, and two singles.

Catcher Robbie Kellerman completed the box score when it comes to pitching.

With the bats, NoCo notched seven hits. Alex Jackson put together his third multi-hit game of the series after tagging two doubles on Saturday. One of them scored Zach West from second for NoCo's first RBI.

Through five games of this homestand, the leadoff man's batted 8-for-17. The

Ty Lewis logged Saturday's second two-hit performance. The first baseman banked a 2-for-3 showing in Game One.

In the fourth inning, Matt Turner entered his first game with this group, subbing into right field. That same inning, Turner turned his first Owlz at-bat into an RBI double, scoring Lewis.

Kevin Higgins drew the Owlz only walk of the game. Raptors pitchers sat down seven on strikes.

Game Two

The next contest started as kind of a carbon copy, but Ogden had to cut down a potential comeback to take their fifth-straight game over the Owlz.

After scoring another 10 runs through the first three innings, Ogden (24-17) made that lead last, winning 14-7.

Though the Owlz (15-24) put up a way more forceful fight, they squandered several scoring chances.

In fact, they went 0-for-3 in bases-loaded moments. A groundout to the pitcher, a perfect double-play ball, and a flyout all failed to force a single run from those opportunities.

Even so, after the second inning, the Owlz outscored Ogden 7-5. They outhit Ogden 12-10.

Problem was … the Raptors ran up nine runs over those first two innings, and that advantage proved insurmountable.

Walks wreaked havoc on this outcome once again. Jerryell Rivera (L, 0-3) issued four, which was part of the reason he allowed nine runs in his start. Chase Wilkerson walked six.

Including Christian Griffin, who pitched the final two frames, Owlz pitching walked 11 batters and struck out just four.

Three straight two-spots from the swingers sparked something in the middle innings.

In the third, Bouchard brought Jackson around with an RBI single, his second hit of Game Two. Brandon Crosby poked one that plated Cam Phelts, singling in the Owlz second run of the game.

Then, in the fourth, Lewis led things off with a base knock before Robbie Kellerman cranked his third homer of the season.

The fifth inning made it three innings in a row the first two batters reached base and scored. This time, Kevin Higgins high-tailed it home on Euro Diaz's right-side run-scoring groundout. Crosby crossed home after Lewis lifted a double to right-center.

All of a sudden, we had a 10-6 ballgame.

But the Raptors wrapped this one up with four runs over the final two innings. Not to be overshadowed, Bouchard blasted his fourth homer in his 15 games as an Owl in the sixth inning. With it, he took over the team lead, and he also capped NoCo's scoring.

Bouchard belted three hits for the second time in three games. He and Kellerman, the homer hitters, each recorded two RBI in Game Two.

Jackson, Crosby, and Lewis all tallied two hits. Lewis legged out a double, the only extra-base hit besides those bombs.

Owlz v. Raptors Wrap Up

Some stats that tell the story of this series…

The Raptors recorded 78 hits and scored 77 runs. The Owlz scored 23 runs on 46 hits.

Owlz pitchers walked 43 batters while striking out 27 of them. On offense, the Owlz drew just 23 walks.

Ogden scored in 23 half innings. That's out of 43 possible opportunities. Seven of those innings included at least five runs from the road team.

Next Up

The guys get an off-day on Sunday following the funky, shortened series this week. It's followed by their originally scheduled off-day on Monday too. 

After that, NoCo hits the road until July 22. Its next stop will be Grand Junction, back where Robby Bales started his coaching career - not just his career with the Owlz, but his career at large.

The Owlz will hope to play a little spoiler in this impending six-game stretch. With the first half winding down, Grand Junction entered Saturday just two games out of first place in the South Division.

The Owlz are back in action on Tuesday, and you can follow the road trip on all of our social media platforms.

For tickets to the next homestand, visit this link. Or feel free to walk right up to the box office the day of the game.

See you next time. Go Owlz!