Eli Elliott has quickly become an anchor to Ogden’s starting rotation after his third straight excellent start.

The right-hander turned in another quality outing, leading the Raptors to a 9-1 victory over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Thursday night in front of a whopping 8,427 fans for Independence Day baseball in Colorado Springs.

Elliott allowed one unearned run in 5 1/3 innings to get the win, giving up two hits while striking out five and walking three.

Elliott allowed two runs in his first inning as a Raptor on June 13; since then, he’s surrendered three runs (two earned) in 20 1/3 innings, good for a 1.69 ERA in four starts.

The Vibes (18-17) tallied once against Elliott on Thursday, scoring on an RBI groundout in the fifth.

By then, Ogden (18-21) led 5-1. Nick Ultsch tallied an RBI single and, though a Pearce Howard double-play groundout stymied a potentially big first-inning rally, it plated one run for a 3-0 lead.

In the third inning, Connor Bagnieski doubled home Jack Cone and scored on a Chris Sargent single for a 5-0 advantage.

That handed Carlos Lomeli the loss; the Vibes starter allowed five runs on 10 hits over six innings.

The Raptors added four more in the ninth: Raymond Gil doubled to score one, Ultsch tripled to score two, and Howard doubled in Ultsch.

Ultsch finished 3 for 5 with three RBIs. Cone hit 3 for 5 and scored three runs from the leadoff spot.

Christian Griffin allowed one hit over 1 2/3 innings, Quinn Waterhouse pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, and Brayden Bonner struck out two in a scoreless ninth for Ogden’s bullpen.

The two teams play again at 6:35 p.m. Friday.

BIG CROWD NOTES

Rocky Mountain’s scorekeeper included a note at the bottom of Thursday’s box score that the Vibes had set a Pioneer League attendance record.

The PBL’s single-game attendance record was Sept. 5, 1992, when Idaho Falls played at Salt Lake City and the Trappers drew 12,870 fans at Derks Field.

So while Thursday night’s large crowd did not set the league’s record, it most certainly is the attendance record in the PBL’s independent era (2021-current).

Thursday’s crowd is also very likely the single-game record since that 1992 mark, the final season the Salt Lake City Trappers were in the Pioneer League. No other PBL team has had the capacity to reach 8,000-plus on a given night, except Ogden’s yet-to-be-filled expansion to Lindquist Field, until 2019 when a minor league shuffle took Triple-A baseball out of Colorado Springs.

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