Owlz Snap Skid with Friday's Fun, Funky Win

JOHNSTOWN, Colo. -- The Owlz supplied the strikeout stuff, stroked it, and snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Rockies. 

The birds batted around twice. They etched 18 hits. They went 6-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

Overall, NoCo (12-22) came back after Thursday's thumping and thumped Rockies (26-8) pitching with persistence. The Owlz won this one 13-8.

The birds' biggest bright spot? Will Buraconak (W, 4-3). Again.

Buraconak is blazing hot. He's hung around for five or more inning eight times now. He's gone at least six innings in each of his last four outings, including an eight-inning masterpiece in Ogden last week.

Friday's effort could've been better, and the best part was that Buraconak seemed to get better as the game wore on.

Grand Junction jumped on him with two runs in the first, courtesy of three-straight softly hit singles. After Buraconak allowed another earned run in the third, the Owlz trailed 3-2. 

After that, though, the super-sized southpaw sat down 13 of the final 17 batters he faced. He struck out the side in both the fifth and sixth innings, adding one more for good measure in the seventh. 

And it's a good thing he did. With that K, he logged 11, giving him the single-game strikeout record of this season so far. Not to mention he only walked one guy in his seven innings of wonderful work.

Buraconak's buddies with the bats backed him up. The Owlz scored three runs on four-straight fifth-inning hits. One of them was Alex Jackson's 10th homer this season, a two-run tater to take the lead his team held the rest of the way. 

The Owlz added another crooked number in the sixth. Marshall Rich singled to start the stanza, eventually scoring on an error. Tim Bouchard banked an RBI, his second of five in the affair. Five RBI ties Bouchard's personal season-high. But more on him later.

Cameron Phelts found himself a base knock to begin the seventh. He stole second base for swiped bag number 40, extending his league lead. The gap grew by one when he stole third that same inning, and when Grand Junction's catcher slipped trying to throw him out, the errant attempt allowed Phelts to score easily. At that point, 8-3 Owlz.

That's when things got interesting.

The Rockies opted to put Damon Maynard, a catcher, on the mound in the eighth. His team was only down five runs. 

Not for long, though. Maynard walked Jackson and Abdel Guadalupe in succession before conceding a Bouchard bomb, his ninth of the season. That mash may have been the most no-doubt-looking long ball of the season, even at the smaller Nelson Farm Park. Then, a pinch-hitting Matt Turner singled, Brandon Crosby walked, and Kevin Higgins hooked a bloop single into right that scored them both.

After the eighth, 13-5 Owlz. More reminiscent of a score a position player would pitch behind. But even then, a little iffy.

The decision looked mighty iffy mighty fast. The Rockies rattled off five ninth-inning runs, reaching the deficit they did preceding the postion-players-pitching decision. 

In other words, if not for that peculiar pitching decision, the Rockies could've eyed up a tie game in the ninth.

But, obviously, that's a big "if." Another big "if:" if NoCo can replicate this offensive performance in a series-deciding Saturday. 

It'll be a tough task. Five guys earned a multi-hit game. Bouchard led the way with four, his third time reaching that total this season. Guadalupe and Higgins each hacked three hits. Jackson and Rich round out the pack with a pair of pokes apiece. Jackson also scored a game-high four runs. 

The birds brought a balance they'll need again on Saturday. It's a big one: the Owlz haven't won a series since beating Billings back in the last week of July, almost a month ago.

Snag your seats for Saturday's scuffle, all of which are just $10, and we'll see you for the 6:05 p.m. first pitch at Nelson Farm Park!