Orem Owlz swoop in on Ogden Raptors' mistakes

OGDEN — Ogden manger Mike Brumley knows first hand that patience is a virtue.

Before the season started, Brumley, who is coaching at the Rookie League level for the first time in 12 years, knows errors — both mental and physical — are part of the game.

Three games into the Pioneer League season, Brumley's stoicism is being tested.

For the second time in three games, the Raptors committed three or more errors and the pitching staff allowed 14 hits in a 11-6 loss to Orem Friday night in the grand re-opening of renovated Lindquist Field.

At the same time, Orem left fielder Ryan Groth went 4-for-5 with four RBIs in leading the Owlz to their third straight victory over the winless Raptors.

With the victory, the Owlz remain in first place in the Pioneer League's South Division — one game better than the Casper Ghosts (formerly the Rockies). The Raptors, meanwhile, are one of three winless teams in the league (Helena and Missoula).

Ogden starter Robert Boothe allowed four runs on six hits while walking just one and fanning eight in his first start of the season. Three of his six hits he allowed came in the second inning, when the Owlz (3-0) took a 2-0 lead.

The Raptors, who had 10 hits in the game, scored four runs on four hits in the bottom of the frame.

Ogden's bats would remain relatively silent for the remainder of the contest until the Raptors scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Orem plated two runs in the fifth with the aid of three hits, a hit batter and an Ogden error to knot the score at 4-all, and then scored two more in the sixth on two hits and two more Ogden errors to take the lead for good.

"The key was (Andrew) Taylor coming in and getting a double, and then two shutout innings," Orem manager Tom Kotchman said of Taylor, who was the winner in relief with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. "It gave us a chance to score some runs."

Groth, who is hitting .600 in the early season, had doubles for the Owlz in the fifth and sixth innings.

The Raptors threatened with two runners in each of the sixth and seventh innings but couldn't score a run.

The Owlz, however, touched up the Raptors for four runs in the seventh with the help of a two-run single by Darwin Perez and another Ogden error — its fourth of the game — to put its out of reach. There were also two hit batters in the inning.

The series continues tonight at 7 p.m. at Lindquist Field.

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E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com