Owlz win — going backwards

OGDEN — Players for the Nedgo Srotpar and Mero Zlwo wore jerseys with backward numbers and team logos in a quirky minor league promotion Friday night at Lindquist Field.

The scoreboard even read from the ninth inning to the first inning, and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game' was sung after 2 1/2 innings of play.

The National Anthem was sung after the game was completed.

If the theme night would have held true to form, the Owlz (Zlwo) would have lost by a run to the Raptors (Srotpar).

"Backwards Night" only went so far, however.

Now back to reality.

After Orem starter Michael Davitt gave up four runs on five hits in less than two innings, reliever Chris Armstrong came in and essentially slammed the door on the Raptors in leading the Owlz to the 7-6 victory.

"That's the second time in a row Armstrong has come in and gave us some good innings," Orem manager Tom Kotchman said.

Orem, which scored three runs in the top of the first inning, led 4-1 heading in the bottom of the second inning, but the Raptors tagged Davitt for three runs in the inning to knot the score.

Armstrong allowed just four hits and struck out four in over the next five innings before Ogden's Jaime Ortiz cut into the Orem lead to one with a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

The Raptors, however, couldn't get the equalizer.

While Armstrong was shutting down the Raptors, the Orem offense tallied two runs in the fourth on an Ogden error and added another in the seventh on a wild pitch by Ogden's Charles Dasni, who is playing in his first game after completing his 50-game suspension after being tested positive for steroids last year.

Orem's Ryan Brasier came in and picked up his fifth save of the season as the Owlz moved to 2-0 in one-run games in the second half of the season. They were 3-10 in the first half.

"We were awful in the first half in one-run games," Kotchman said.

Ogden's Jaime Pedroza single-handedly kept the Raptors in the game with a homer in the first and a two-run single in the Raptors' three-run second. The Raptors wouldn't score again until the homer by Ortiz.

Five Orem hitters had two hits each in the 11-hit attack. Moore had two RBIs, while Pedroza tallied three hits and Ortiz had two hits and two RBIs for the Raptors.

The three-game series concludes tonight at 7 p.m. at Lindquist Field.

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E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com Owlz 7

Raptors 6