Ogden wins 7-4 and clinches second half title

The Drillers and the Quakes lost Game 3 of their playoff series and now they must win today to extend their series to a Game 5. The Raptors won and clinched the second half division title. The Raptors had already qualified for the playoffs by eliminating Grand Junction earlier this week.

Player of the day

Rylan Bannon has had a very good first year of professional baseball, he’s hitting .336/.425/.591 with 19 walks and 29 strikeouts in 168+ plate appearances. The 21-year-old has only played at Ogden this season.

Double-A - Tulsa

The Drillers gave up three runs in both the first and second inning and the NW Arkansas Naturals (Royals) went on to win 7-3 and take a two games to one game lead in their playoff series.

Josh Sborz gave up six runs in 1⅓ innings along with eight hits. In the first inning, an Erick Mejia error opened the door and two of the three runs scored in that inning were unearned.

But after the Drillers came back to tie the game 3-3, in the second inning, Sborz gave up four hits which ended up scoring more three runs.

The Drillers scored on back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Kyle Garlick hit a two-run homer and Blake Gailen followed with a solo home run. That was the extent of their scoring.

Class-A - Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes could not mount much offense and lost 8-1 to the Lancaster JetHawks (Rockies) on Friday. This meant the Quakes have to win today to tie their series and move their series back to Lancaster for the fifth game.

Brandon McCarthy started for the Quakes and he pitched five innings, giving up three runs and seven hits. All of the runs scored in the third inning after two were out.

The JetHawks scored their first three runs by putting together four consecutive hits, a single, double, single and single. Aside from that inning, McCarthy scattered three other hits, walked one and struck out four.

After scoring 17 runs in the second game, the Quakes had only four at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Quakes scored their one run on a Zach Reks solo home runs.

Rookie Pioneer - Ogden

The Raptors had already clinched their playoff spot but they finally clinched the second half division title with a 7-4 win over the Idaho Falls Chukars (Royals). The win gave them a two-game lead over Orem with today’s game left to play.

Trevor Oaks made a rehab start for the Raptors and he pitched three innings and gave up a run and three hits. Jesus Vargas got the win and Zach Hartman got his third save.

Rylan Bannon went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a run scored. Donovan Casey had two hits and two RBI. Brayan Morales and Ramon Rodriguez also had two hits.

Transactions

No transactions reported on Friday.

Friday’s scores

NW Arkansas 7, Tulsa 3 (NW Arkansas leads 2-1)

Lancaster 8, Rancho Cucamonga 1 (Lancaster leads 2-1)

Ogden 7, Idaho Falls 4

Saturday’s schedule

5:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Yadier Alvarez) vs. NW Arkansas (Zach Lovvorn)

5:30 p.m.: Ogden (Gregorio Sequera) vs. Idaho Falls (Robert Garcia)

7:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Dustin May) vs. Lancaster (TBD)