Owlz shut down Ghosts

The Orem Owlz held the Casper Ghosts to a season-low 5 hits in their 5-1 win in game one of a three game series at Brent Brown Ballpark.

The teams traded zeroes until the third. Hampton Tignor led off the inning with a single to right, then Andrew Heid did the same to give them runners at first and second with nobody out. Travis Witherspoon struck out looking for the first out, but Thomas Nichols doubled down the left field line to score Tignor to make it 1-0 Owlz, and it gave them runners at 2nd and 3rd. After that Nick Farnsworth hit a line drive right at Jeff Squier, which could’ve resulted in a double play, but Squier dropped the ball, and that allowed Heid and Nichols to score to make it 3-0 Orem.

They would add a run in the fourth as starter Bruce Kern exited the game. Christian Bergman entered, and he allowed a triple to the first batter he faced, Rolando Gomez. He would score on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Eichelberger. Then The Owlz would take advantage of some shaky defense and load the bases, but Bergman was able to work out of the jam to keep it 4-0.

The Ghosts would get on the board in the 6th as Rafael Ortega drove his first home run of the season over the right field wall to make it 4-1, but Orem added another run in the seventh on an RBI triple by Nick Farnsworth to make it 5-1 Owlz.
The Ghosts would get runners at the corners in the seventh, but could not push across another run, and they would be set down in order in the 8th and 9th.

Casper falls to 8-12 on the season, and they are three games back of Orem and Idaho Falls for first place in the South division.
The Ghosts and Owlz will play game 2 of their series Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 4:05 at Brent Brown Ballpark.