Stormy Start Stifles Owlz in Thursday's Loss

GREELEY, Colo. -- The Raptors started to strike before the lightning did, and by continuing their downpour after the weather delay, Ogden stormed out to an insurmountable lead.

To put it very simply, Ogden (21-17) hit everything. It finished the day 21-for-39. NoCo (15-20) simply didn't hit enough in response.

Thursday makes it twice this season that Ogden's dropped 20 on the Owlz. The other such game was the June 12 series finale at Lindquist Field. The Raptors rocked it for 23 runs on Monday against Idaho Falls, too.

Preston Snavely (L, 0-1) started Thursday's game, and he started off strong. Ogden's Josh Broughton bopped a leadoff double, but Snavely spoiled it with three-straight flyouts to end the inning.

The next inning is where things got messy.

And it wasn't just the weather, which caused an almost two hour delay in the action. Right before the rain and lightning, Snavely surrendered three runs on four hits.

The delay ended his day. Emmanuel Rosario relieved Snavely and suffered a shelling. Through his 1.1 innings, he allowed 10 hits and 11 earned runs.

By the end of their third trip to bat, Ogden owned a 16-1 lead. The Raptors recorded 16 hits through the first three innings.

They finished the seven-inning skirmish with 21 hits, the most NoCo's allowed in a game this season. Every Raptor registered at least one hit and scored at least one run.

Despite the deficit, the effort from the Owlz offense was there.

Alex Jackson and Euro Diaz each etched two hits. Jackson jumps to 13 multi-hit games on the season while Diaz drilled multiple hits for the seventh time so far.

Kevin Higgins hacked a two-RBI single in the third, extending his team lead in that category. With that bases-loaded base knock, the shortstop's stocked up 29 RBI to this point. He went 1-for-4 on the day.

Tim Bouchard boosted a fourth-inning fastball past the Jackson Field fence for his third no-doubter with NoCo. Bouchard's bomb brought home two, and he actually ties for the team lead in homers after just 11 games.

Cameron Phelts and Zach West round out the RBI earners from Thursday. With a bases loaded walk, Phelts' free pass brought him his 19th ribbie this season. For West, it was a seventh-inning single that sent Phelts home for the Owlz final run of the ballgame. West has now notched 10 RBI in his 27 games played.

Ty Lewis went 1-for-3 at the plate, but maybe had his biggest moments on the mound. The first baseman felt his way through two innings of work and whipped up two strikeouts. One of those came against former Owl Brian Dansereau, coaxing smiles out of both of them.

Although there wasn't much else to smile about, NoCo can take solace in the fact it's back tomorrow with a tight turnaround. With an impending 11:30 a.m. start to Friday's double-header day, there will be much less time to dwell on Thursday's loss.

First pitch from Jackson Field on Friday is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. The second game of the double-header will start about 30 minutes after the first game is over.

See you then!