Vibes Top Owlz on Opening Day

By Hudson Ridley

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - After a grueling first series on the road the Rocky Mountain Vibes were back in town for opening day. In a game that saw a lot of festivities it was the on-field play of the Vibes putting the cherry on top in a 9-4 victory over the Northern Colorado Owlz.

Toeing the bump for the Vibes to open the game was Ryan Campbell making his first start for the Vibes. On the other side it was Chase Jessee who got the ball for NoCo. Jessee was not only pitching in his first game as an Owl, but his first professional game ever.

Early on it looked like Campbell was in for the rougher start of the two, after giving up two runs on four hits in the top of the second. As the game progressed Campbell settled in and the attention turned to Chase Jessee who was starting to struggle around the bottom of the fourth. Three walks and a Joe Encarnacion two RBI single knotted things at two. The next inning Trevor Johnson would replace Jessee on the mound. 

Johnson would record five outs before being pulled for the Owlz third pitcher of the game, Cory Wills. This move opened up the floodgates for the Vibes offense who had a pattern of scoring in spurts on the afternoon. A Nick Michaels two out double would plate two runners and push the score to 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth.  

Campbell's day would end in the top of the sixth after allowing six hits on the day. In his place came right hander Nathan Draves. After a scoreless sixth, Draves allowed two runs. One coming off of a Jackson Coutts RBI single, the other on the second of two consecutive wild pitches.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jacob Barfield would come across on a fielder's choice to retake the lead for the Vibes 5-4. It wasn't until the bottom of the eighth where the Vibes scoring really got started. With the bases loaded and the pressure on, Rocky Mountain left fielder Casey Petersen would step up and deliver a massive three RBI triple to extend the Vibes lead to 8-4. Petersen would later be driven in from third on a sacrifice fly from Jacob Barfield to give the Vibes a 9-4 advantage which would not change.

Dutch Landis and Alexis Cedano each played their roles on the mound to close this one out and give Rocky Mountain a huge win on opening day.

The Vibes are back in action tomorrow, May 28th, when they face the Owlz for the fifth and final game of this series. First pitch is slated for 1:05 P.M.