Owlz Crazy Comeback Not Enough to Win Wednesday's Wild Ride

GREELEY, Colo. -- NoCo and Grand Junction battled on a busy Wednesday night, and the result was some truly bonkers baseball.

Here's what I mean:

The teams combined for 23 runs and 34 hits: 19 of them for the victorious Rockies (9-9) and 15 for the Owlz (8-10). Twenty-five of those hits came in the first half of the game.

The Owlz once took the lead on an inside-the-park home run. The Rockies took the lead for good on a pinch-hit RBI triple. 

Despite all that, 11 pitchers combined to throw 36 strikeouts compared to just seven walks. 

Perhaps the most important stat, though, at least for the Owlz: 15 men left on base. They twice left the bases loaded.

And after falling behind 7-0 immediately, they couldn't afford those missed opportunities. 

Kyle Adkins, a bullpen newbie as of this season, entered Wednesday with a team-high nine appearances. His 10th turned into his first start as an Owl, and turned tumultuous quickly. 

Grand Junction jumped out to that lead thanks to seven first-inning hits, the most the Owlz have allowed in any inning this season. 

But Adkins' buddies with the bats picked up the slack. NoCo knocked in a couple in the bottom half of that long opening inning. Brandon Crosby conked his 15th hit as an Owl to score Alex Jackson. Brian Dansereau dumped an RBI double into left field an at-bat later to make the score 7-2.

The Rockies recorded another in the second, thanks to Caleb Farmer's solo homer. But the Owlz answered again when Cameron Phelts floated an RBI single into right center, scoring Zach West. 

That run was the first of six that went unanswered. In the third inning, Slayton Vaughan scored his first run in NoCo's colors after Kevin Higgins hammered a two-RBI triple, also scoring West in the process. In the fourth, Dansereau drove in Phelts, who reached with one of his signature bunt singles, on an RBI groundout. Crosby crossed the plate when Vaughan reached base on an error. Then, Vaughan scored when West whacked an RBI double into right field.

So after succumbing to a sudden seven-run deficit, the Owlz clawed their way back to a tie ballgame by the fourth inning.

With that, they took Adkins off the hook. Instead, it looked like Will Buraconak may actually pick up the dub. Buraconak tossed two strikeouts and allowed two earned runs in three innings of work. 

Austin Schneider (L, 2-3) came on in the sixth and made quick work of the heart of Grand Junction's order. The Owlz still trailed by one, but one wonderful swing of Robbie Kellerman's bat changed all that. 

Kellerman cranked a shot to deep left-center to lead off the home half of the sixth. When the Rockies' outfielders couldn't find that blistered ball, Kellerman kept running for an insane inside-the-park homer. The timely tater gave his team its first lead of Wednesday's wild ride.

The score stood at 11-10, but the Rockies responded with a quick pair that ended up putting this one out of reach. Nico Popa's pinch-hit three-bagger brought home Jaylen Hubbard and Collin Moore, making the score 12-11.

Despite the best efforts of Chance Benton, who struck out five of the six batters he faced, and NoCo's ninth inning bats, that's where the score would ultimately stay.

Even with the missed opportunities and men left on, NoCo's night was a positive one at the plate. Every starter finished the game with at least one hit, and five Owlz finished with a multiple hits on the night. Jackson jerked three hits to lead the team. Four guys gained multiple RBI in Wednesday's game. 

They'll look to sustain that sort of swinging success when these two teams return to action on Thursday. First pitch from Jackson Field is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.