Grand Junction Just Narrowly Outdoes NoCo in Knockout Round

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. --  A pesky parliament of Owlz couldn't pull it off in a Knockout Round, dropping Tuesday's tightly-contested game in Grand Junction.

The Knockout Round, in a way, was a microcosm of NoCo's (11-20) entire night.

Nick Bottari, home run hero of the Owlz recent Knockout Round win over the Raptors, took another turn on Tuesday. He walloped one that hooked just foul. He hammered one to the warning track, too. I'm talking like two feet away from being bombs between those two swings.

Bottari blanked in the Knockout Round. So when Shawn Ross lifted a line drive just high enough for the only homer he needed, the Rockies (24-7) responded just enough to down the Owlz again.

They got away with those types of responses all night, and they used it to take their fifth-straight win over these Owlz.

It drops them to 13 games behind the Rockies in the South Division's second-half standings.

NoCo committed four errors and counted nine hits. Three of those hits came out of desperation in the ninth.

His team down 5-3, Kevin Higgins hit a single to start the inning. His team down to its final strike, Abdel Guadalupe singled himself. Tim Bouchard, also down to the potential last strike, struck a scorching two-run triple to tie it up. It was the Owlz only extra-base hit of the ballgame.

Christian Griffin's great ninth-inning effort on the mound kept NoCo's hopes alive. Grand Junction never really threatened after Bouchard's clutch gene kicked in in the ninth.

But well before that, this ballgame built into a back-and-forth affair. The two teams traded Tuesday's lead a lot in the early aughts.

The Owlz took it first, back in the first. Then Grand Junction jumped ahead in the second. NoCo knotted it up in the third, fell behind in the fourth, then tied the game again in the fifth.

Neither starter saw his squad hold much of a lead. Jimmy Dobrash lasted six innings. It's the 13^th time this season a Rockies starter spun six or more innings against the Owlz.

Colton Williams nearly hit that same benchmark. Williams worked for 5.2 innings, his longest outing of the season. He struck out a couple and didn't issue any walks. Only half of the four runs he allowed went down as earned.

Considering the outings of CJ Grant-Debose, Chase Wilkerson, and Kyle Adkins, the pitching provided enough to keep pace. Of those guys, only Grant-Debose allowed a run in relief.

The birds with the bats banked just enough runs throughout the game to keep themselves in it. That near-immediate first-inning lead was the only one they held all night.

Bottari brought home that run with an up-the-middle single. Guadalupe and Bouchard became the only other Owlz to record an RBI. Matter of fact, they each recorded two of them on Tuesday.

Guadalupe, the reigning PBL South Division Batter of the Week, led the Owlz with three hits. Higgins and Bouchard both bopped two hits.

Marshall Rich scored two runs, the only Owl to muster multiple runs scored in this one.

Quite the fight, but not quite timely enough. The defensive lapses didn't help either.

The Owlz final game at Suplizio Field this season is Wednesday evening. First pitch for the final game of this three-game set is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.