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PL Northern Colorado Owlz

Owlz Win Season-High Fourth in a Row

June 28, 2016 - Pioneer League (PL)
Northern Colorado Owlz News Release


Orem Owlz OF Troy Montgomery
Orem Owlz OF Troy Montgomery
(Northern Colorado Owlz, Credit: Brian Philbrick)

The Owlz completed the four-game sweep of the Raptors with a 4-3 win in Ogden on Monday night. Troy Montgomery tied a career-high in hits with three and also had his second home run of the season in the victory.

With the win, the Owlz improve to 7-3 and are off to their best ten-game start under manager Dave Stapleton.

The Owlz scored first for the ninth time this season during the second inning. Michael Barash scored on a double play off the bat of Franklin Torres. The score held at 1-0 until the third.

Owlz' starter Austin Robichaux retired the first six batters of the game before back-to-back walks to open the third. After a wild pitch to move the runners to second and third, Mitchell Hansen hit a sacrifice fly to center to equal the score at one.

Raptors' starter Roberth Fernandez found a grove in innings three through five. He struck out four batters while only allowing two hits during the stretch. In the sixth inning, Montgomery lined an offering from Fernandez toward left-center and it snuck over the wall for a go-ahead homer.

Doug Willey took over for Robichaux in the fifth and twirled two scoreless innings of relief. He was followed by Blake Smith in the seventh who fired a perfect frame.

In the bottom of the eighth, with the score still 2-1, Smith allowed a leadoff single to Luis Paz. Then third baseman Moises Perez grounded a ball up the third base line. The close play was called foul before Torres threw the ball into right field to turn two case the ball was fair. On the next pitch, Perez grounded a routine ball to short where Justus turned with Moreno for the double play.

It was the last batter Smith faced as Mike Kaelin came in for a four-out save. After an error on himself, he escaped the inning without damage.

The Owlz added insurance in the ninth bringing eight batters to the plate. With one out and runners on the corners, the Raptors brought Corey Copping into the game to face Michael Barash. On the first pitch, Sam McDonnell took off for second. Simultaneously, Matt Thaiss broke for home and scored on the double steal as the throw went into center field.

Connor Justus added an RBI single to make the score 4-1 headed to the bottom half.

Kaelin struck out Brock Carpenter for the first out in the ninth but then ran into trouble. Three straight hits brought in a run and had runners on the corners in a 4-2 game. Kaelin struck Isabel looking for the second out, but allowed an RBI single by Paz to make it a one-run game.

Raptors' manager Shaun Larkin turned to his bench to bring Gersel Pitre to the plate. Stapleton would counter with Andrew Vinson from the bullpen. The Owlz would claim the win on a fly out to center field and seal the four-game winning streak.

The Owlz return home to Orem for a pair of games with the Grand Junction Rockies. Tuesday night's game features fireworks with first pitch at 7:05 P.M.

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Images from this story

Orem Owlz OF Troy Montgomery
Orem Owlz OF Troy Montgomery
(Brian Philbrick)		   



Pioneer League Stories from June 28, 2016


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