Ogden Overpowers Owlz with 20-Run Onslaught in Sunday's Spectacle

OGDEN, Utah -- Ogden caught fire against a familiar face, triggering a 20-run effort that endured desperate attempts from NoCo and brought this series to a draw.

The 20-12 loss is the Owlz (8-8) largest loss this season. It's the most runs given up by this pitching staff in a game this season.

The staff's Sunday start belonged to Kida De La Cruz, NoCo's newest member. He showed up in the middle of this series, and all he did to get there was switch locker rooms.

Ogden (10-6) offered De La Cruz (L, 0-2) to NoCo in a trade ahead of the series' third game on Thursday. When the Raptors finally met their former teammate in battle, they bested him.

The six-foot-six-inch starter lasted just 1.1 innings against Ogden and surrendered seven earned runs. He fanned just one friend-turned-foe while walking four of them in the shortest start by any Owlz arm this year.

The Raptors' Ronny Orta (W, 3-0), De La Cruz's counterpart, cruised through segments of his Sunday start. Even though the NoCo needled him for 11 hits, he never allowed the Owlz to encroach on his club's lead.

The first hit came in the first inning. Brandon Crosby tagged a two-out double to give him a dozen hits this series. Brian Dansereau drove him in the next at-bat, and the Owlz found a quick 1-0 lead.

But things got out of hand even quicker. Ogden opened with a pair of their own runs and stormed out to a 7-1 lead following five runs in the second inning. It was their first of three five-run innings.

NoCo compiled three runs over the next couple frames. In the third, Cameron Phelts' flick of the wrist brought home Marshall Rich on an RBI single, and Crosby contributed another RBI on a groundout. Ty Lewis launched his first homer of the year an inning later.

Ogden answered with two runs in that timeframe, and the Raptors responded with a real rally in the sixth inning.

After Lewis and Rich singled consecutively, Zach West and Alex Jackson scored them consecutively – West's RBI coming on a groundout while Jackson spanked a run-scoring single right up the middle. Then, in the bottom half of the sixth, the home team hung up five more runs to make the lead 15-6.

NoCo cut down the lead in the eighth with a furious five-spot of their own. Jackson's third hit of the day drove in Rich. Dansereau doubled to unload the bases, scoring three. Then Kevin Higgins hammered a triple that plated Dansereau.

The Raptors ruined the fun with their final five-run inning in the home half of the eighth.

In the ninth, a desperate double by Jordan Garr gave Rich his fourth run of the game, a new season-high number for NoCo. Higgins tacked on two more after a hot shot handcuffed Ogden's second baseman, forcing an error.

But overall, Ogden's outpouring was too overwhelming for all that to feel threatening.

Each team stroked 17 hits. For NoCo, that matches a season high. They each also accumulated at least 10 hits with runners on base.

This spastic Sunday scrap saw much of the same offensive production the rest of the six-game series did. Until the series finale, the pitching impressed too.

NoCo knows a lot more about itself following this trip to Ogden, and it brings that knowledge back to NoCo starting on Tuesday. Join us at Jackson Field that afternoon as the Owlz welcome the Grand Junction Rockies for the first of six-straight games. First pitch for Tuesday's series opener is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.