Owlz take Game 1 thanks to offense

OREM — The theory goes that pitching wins championships, and that held true for a few innings in Game 1 of the Pioneer League championship series.

That line of thinking fell by the wayside after the third inning as the Orem Owlz nipped the Great Falls White Sox 7-5 on Wednesday evening.

Jay Brossman and Juilo Perez each knocked in three runs for the Owlz, kick-starting their offense when they needed it. This was all part of Orem's mid-inning blitz in which it scored in four straight innings.

Orem broke through in the fourth when Julio Perez tripled in Gordie Gronkowski and Hector Estrella. Great Falls center fielder Salvador Sanchez tried to catch up to the fly ball, but it went over his outstretched glove and bounced off the fence.

Gronkowski doubled with one out and got to third on Carter's wild pitch. Estrella walked with two outs to keep the inning alive.

The Owlz tried to take the game in hand in the fifth, scoring three more to take a 5-0 lead. Another two-RBI triple — this time from Brossman — scored DeAndre Miller and Efran Navarro. Gronkowski's sac fly added the final run of the frame.

Great Falls had the perfect chance for a rally in the sixth when it loaded the bags with no outs. C.J. Rutherford's single led off the inning and two walks filled the bases. Jim Gallagher hit a soft grounder past first, and Anton failed to cover first base on the routine play to allow Rutherford to score the first run. Another run came through from Zach Morgan's sacrifice fly that cut Orem's lead to 5-2.

"They didn't win 53 games and be a fluke," Orem manager Tom Kotchman said. "They're a good ball club."

Orem added another in the sixth from Perez's RBI that stretched its lead to four runs.

The White Sox got that run back and scored two more in the seventh to get within one. John Curtis' blast over the right-field wall and Christian Marrero's two-run single did the damage.

Orem got a crucial insurance run from Brossman's home run in the bottom of the seventh.

The White Sox brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth, but Marrero's high fly was caught by Perez at the track.

"When the count was 2-2, I looked at Zeke (pitching coach Zimmerman), I said 'We need to get this guy, I don't want to face the next one,'" Kotchman said. "He just missed it."

The teams get a chance to rest today for the long bus trip back to Great Falls with Game 2 scheduled for Friday evening.

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E-mail: jadkins@desnews.com