Hess throws complete game, Ogden Raptors end series against Vibes with 2 wins
Kevin Johnson, Ogden Raptors
Ogden Raptors pitcher Matt Hess throws the ball in a game Aug. 20, 2023, at Lindquist Field in Ogden.The Ogden Raptors lost another second-half series this week but return home with some momentum after two good performances to close a trip to Colorado Springs to play the Rocky Mountain Vibes.
The Raptors (45-39, 14-22) got a complete-game performance from Matthew Hess on Saturday to end a six-game losing streak, then exploded on offense for a rain-shortened victory over the Vibes (42-41, 22-14) on Saturday.
Ogden travels home Monday, then welcomes the Billings Mustangs (41-43, 22-14) — who are on a seven-game winning streak — for six games from Aug. 29 to Sept. 3. The Raptors then host Northern Colorado from Sept 4-6 for the team’s final regular-season home games ahead of the mid-September playoffs.
RAPTORS 6, VIBES 1
Ogden’s shortest batters gave Hess an early 3-0 lead, more than enough in his complete-game outing in which he surrendered one run on seven hits, striking out four and walking two, to get the Raptors back in the win column.
In the second inning, second baseman Dakota Conners doubled in a run and, not long after, outfielder Cam Phelts cracked a two-run triple for the 3-0 lead.
The Vibes scored their lone run in the fifth on an RBI single. The Raptors gave Hess some late insurance, scoring on a Coleton Horner sacrifice fly in the eighth, and plating runs on a passed ball and a bases-loaded walk in the ninth.
Conners, Josh Broughton, Juan Teixeira and Nick Ultsch each had two hits for Ogden.
All seven hits RMV tallied against Hess were singles.
RAPTORS 13, VIBES 5
The Raptors scored seven runs before the Vibes found the plate Sunday in a game shortened to seven innings by a rainstorm.
Josh Broughton hit 3 for 4 with three RBIs in the leadoff spot for Ogden. His RBI single in the second inning put his team up 4-0 and his sacrifice fly in the third made it 7-0.
After the Vibes scored three runs in the fifth, Broughton singled in Cam Phelts to make it 12-5 in the sixth. Dakota Conners added his second RBI of the game in the seventh, hitting home Dane Tofteland, for the final score.
Coleton Horner added a two-run double in the fourth for Ogden.
Brock Gilliam got his ninth win of the season on the mound with ample run support, allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings.
The Raptors outhit RMV 16-7.