Titus' Titan Effort Puts Raptors on Brink of Title
July 16, 2019 - Pioneer League (PL)
Ogden Raptors News Release
MISSOULA, MT - Entering Monday night's game, Ogden Raptors first-year professional Jimmy Titus had amassed 10 hits, including three doubles and a home run, and five RBI in 11 career games.
Game #12 proved to be the best of Titus' young career.
The second baseman went 4-for-4 with a home run, double and four runs batted in as the Raptors knocked off the Missoula Osprey, 9-3, for their eighth-straight win.
The victory also dropped Ogden's magic number for clinching their second-straight first-half South division championship to two. Any combination of Raptors wins and Grand Junction Rockies losses totaling two will clinch the title for Ogden. That could come as early as Tuesday night, with both teams in action.
Titus got the Raptors on the board in the second. Zac Ching singled and Marco Hernandez walked with one out. Titus stepped in and, after taking a ball, hammered a shot that cleared the left-field fence in a hurry.
The Osprey, with the help of three Ogden errors, got two back against Alfredo Tavarez in the home half. Tavarez, though, recorded a strikeout and ground out to strand the potential tying run at third base.
In the third, Andy Pages led off and sent the second pitch out of the park to center field for a 4-2 Raptors lead.
The visitors put up three more in the fourth. Hernandez and Titus singled and Brandon Wulff walked with one out, and Justin Yurchak lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score a run. Pages singled through the left side to bring in another, and a third run scored when Ryan Ward's low shot caromed off the pitcher's mound and into center field.
Titus drove in his fourth run in the fifth when his double banged off the shallow right-field fence and Hernandez raced around all the way from first.
The Osprey put up a two-out run in the seventh on a wild pitch, but Sam McWilliams got the run back in the ninth by turning around a 95 MPH fastball and hitting it out to straightaway center.
Tavarez pitched five strong innings for the win. Allowing just two hits and three walks. Jeff Belge continued the strong outing on the mound with four strikeouts over two innings, and Melvin Jimenez retired all six batter he faced - five by strikeout - to cover the final two innings.
Ogden and Missoula go at it again Tuesday night at 7:15 in the third game of the four-game set.
Pioneer League Stories from July 16, 2019
- Owlz Stumble in Game Two - Northern Colorado Owlz
- Castro Garners Pitcher of the Week Honors - Ogden Raptors
- Rox Explode for 12 in Blowout Win - Grand Junction Jackalopes
- Titus' Titan Effort Puts Raptors on Brink of Title - Ogden Raptors
- Chukars Snap Losing Skid - Idaho Falls Chukars
- Voyagers Blast Three Homers in Fourth Straight Win - Great Falls Voyagers
- Osprey Drop Third Straight, Fall 9-3 to Ogden - Missoula PaddleHeads
- Voyagers Shutout Vibes in Game Two Monday Night - Rocky Mountain Vibes
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