OREM — Considering the Orem Owlz are near the bottom of the Pioneer League in several offensive categories, the last thing this team needs is to fall behind early in a game.

But that's exactly what happened Monday night against the Casper Rockies.

And, not surprisingly, the result was another Orem loss.

The Rockies pounced on the Owlz — and starter Stephen Marek — right away, seizing a quick lead before cruising to a 7-4 victory in front of a crowd of 2,352.

Casper plated three runs in the first inning, highlighted by Daniel Mayora's two-run double, to give the Rockies a relatively comfortable cushion.

Casper also enjoyed solid pitching from Chaz Roe, who earned the win.

Orem dropped to 18-22 overall, while Casper improved to 22-18.

The Owlz countered with a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Hainley Statia, but they didn't score again until the seventh inning.

Following the fast start, the Rockies were quiet until they exploded for four runs in the sixth. It started with Trevor Allen's leadoff home run. Two batters later, Dexter Fowler belted an RBI triple and Fowler later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ramon Rodriguez. Cole Garner wrapped up the scoring spree by recording an RBI single to lift the Rockies to a 7-1 advantage.

In the seventh, Orem cut the deficit on Brad Coon's two-run single and the Owlz added another run in the eighth.

But it wasn't nearly enough to overcome the early deficit.

The Owlz and Rockies continue their three-game series tonight at 7.

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E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com