Vibes Win Game, Series Over Owlz
In a series that saw just about every way you could win or lose a baseball game, the Vibes finished their set with the Owlz with a 16-12 win.
By Tyler Petersen
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In a series that saw just about every way you could win or lose a baseball game, the Vibes finished their set with the Owlz with a 16-12 win.
It looked as if the Vibes would get a blowout game of their own after suffering a 20-4 defeat on Saturday. They got out to a 10-run lead before getting a scare from the Owlz in an eight-run eighth.
Rocky Mountain batters rocked Northern Colorado pitching early and often. They got it started with six runs in the first inning, batting around by sending 11 batters to the plate.
Four more runs in the second and four more runs in the fourth had the home team up 14-4 after five innings.
In the sixth, Jorge Leo ran into some trouble and was replaced by Chris Allen after a three-run home run by Euro Diaz. Allen ran into some trouble of his own – allowing five hits and five runs with two errors in the field behind him. A 10-run lead had eroded to a 2-run lead and the Owlz still had a man at third with only one out.
Pete Bayer was called in to put out the fire. He faced two hitters, blew the doors off both of them, striking them both out, the first with a hard slider, the second with 96 mph outside on the black. The inning was finally over.
The Vibes added two important insurance runs in the sixth, then Bayer and Seth Davis pitched a scoreless final three innings.
Gio Diaz had another big day at the office – five hits to continue pushing his hit record even higher with two runs and three RBI. Brandon Perez nearly matched Diaz's day – four hits in five at-bats with three runs and two RBI. Together, the pair had a hand in 10 of the 16 runs the Vibes scored.
After getting a full charcuterie board of exciting competitions this week, the Vibes will have their hands full for the next two weeks. They head to Ogden tomorrow for a six-game series starting on Tuesday then have six more after that on the road against Grand Junction.
This is the big stretch of the season. If the Vibes are making a move to the top of the standings this is the time they need to do it and prove to the rest of the league that they have what it takes to win a championship.