Stellar defense propels Ogden Raptors to clinch 1st-half title in 3-0 win over Vibes | News, Sports, Jobs
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Ogden Raptors third baseman Josh Broughton, right, greets teammate Pat Adams (16) after Adams hit a home run in the third inning of a 3-0 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Friday, July 25, 2022, at Lindquist Field in Ogden . The Raptors clinched the South Division first-half title with the victory.
Kevin Johnson, Ogden Raptors
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Ogden Raptors pitcher Christian Day reads to throw during a 3-0 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Friday, July 25, 2022, at Lindquist Field in Ogden. The Raptors clinched the South Division first-half title with the victory.
Kevin Johnson, Ogden Raptors
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Ogden Raptors players drift onto the field as the final out is made of a 3-0 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Friday, July 25, 2022, at Lindquist Field in Ogden. The Raptors clinched the South Division first-half title with the victory.
Kevin Johnson, Ogden Raptors
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Ogden Raptors third baseman Josh Broughton, right, greets teammate Pat Adams (16) after Adams hit a home run in the third inning of a 3-0 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Friday, July 25, 2022, at Lindquist Field in Ogden . The Raptors clinched the South Division first-half title with the victory.
Ogden Raptors pitcher Christian Day reads to throw during a 3-0 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Friday, July 25, 2022, at Lindquist Field in Ogden. The Raptors clinched the South Division first-half title with the victory.
Ogden Raptors players drift onto the field as the final out is made of a 3-0 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Friday, July 25, 2022, at Lindquist Field in Ogden. The Raptors clinched the South Division first-half title with the victory.
OGDEN — A shirtless Sonny Ulliana made his way to Lindquist Field’s left-field grandstand, raising his arms to the crowd while holding up a champagne bottle in one hand and an extended No. 1 finger on the other hand.
Hair drenched from the team celebration in the outfield just moments before, the Ogden Raptors catcher couldn’t stop smiling and the scene told the story of the night’s accomplishment.
The Raptors clinched the Pioneer League South Division’s first-half championship Friday night, securing one of the league’s four playoff bids come September.
Courtesy of @KevinJohnson7 with the @ogdenraptors, here’s Kash Beauchamp setting off the champagne celebration: pic.twitter.com/k661sFJvvC
— StandardEx Raptors (@RaptorsSE) July 16, 2022
The postgame spectacle informed that achievement but did not tell the story of the game itself, a 3-0 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes that featured several stunning defensive feats, clutch situational plays and an old-school feel, with both starters going seven innings in a 2-hour, 19-minute baseball game played in front of a season-high 5,308 fans.
“It was the best baseball game from two teams that I’ve been a part of this year, and I tip my hat to (Vibes manager) Joe Mikulik, he’s re-energized them,” Ogden manager Kash Beauchamp said. “We had to battle, scratch and claw for everything that we got.
“Probably the worst mental game we played all year was last night, so to come back and play such a clean, sharp baseball game is just a testament to how good these players are.”
Christian Day threw seven scoreless innings for Ogden (28-18), allowing five hits while striking out four and walking two.
“After last night, I just knew I had to give my team a chance to win,” the right-handed Day said. “Just give it my best effort and hope everything falls into place.”
All the night’s scoring came in the bottom of the third: Josh Broughton, perhaps the night’s star, led off the frame with a walk and outfielder Pat Adams followed by lifting an opposite-field homer to left-center, putting the Raptors up 2- 0
With two outs, shortstop Jesus Valdez was hit by a pitch and first baseman Freddy Achecar followed with a line-drive double to right-center, scoring Valdez for the 3-0 margin.
Aside from that one frame, Vibes (14-30) starter Yohandry Perez was just about as good as Day, also only allowing five hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking three.
But Ogden’s defense and pitching starred Friday night, especially Broughton at third base.
“My defense, they made some great plays tonight that kept the game where it was,” said Day, a Mississippi native. “Just throw the ball across the plate and trust the defense to make a play, that was my success tonight.”
A night full of Raptors web gems hit its apex on the final out of the top of the seventh.
Rocky Mountain third baseman Brandon Perez lined a grounder down the third-base line, taking Broughton, well behind the bag, into foul territory. Knowing the timing needed to make such a play, Broughton planted his feet in a crouch and reached with a backhand glove to grab the ball.
He lost his balance and nearly fell over, somehow recovered enough to continue the play, and simultaneously began a spin to throw across the diamond as he stood from his crouch, flinging the ball blindly with a right arm well-known around the league, and hitting Achecar at first with an on-target dart.
The throw beat Perez by a half-step, completing Day’s start on a 1-2-3 inning with stunning prodigy.
That was hardly the only defensive spectacle for Ogden.
In the first inning, and for the first of Day’s two jams, the vibes put runners on the corners with two outs. Mike Annone hit a laser up the first-base line and in a play surely of pure instinct, Achecar snagged the liner about 1 foot to the right of his head to end the inning.
In the second, Broughton caught a line drive at third and used his strong arm to double off a runner at first.
After Day posted three quick innings from the third through the fifth, he got in his second jam in the sixth, even after the first of two silky smooth Valdez-to-Dakota Conners-to-Achecar ground ball double plays. With two outs, Vibes catcher Luis Navarro singled and Annone followed with a double down the right-field line.
With runners on second and third, Day got Domonique Hernandez to pop out to Valdez at short to end the sixth. That led into Broughton’s scintillating play in the seventh.
With Haden Erbe taking the mound for Ogden in the eighth, Valdez started another slick 6-4-3 double play to erase a leadoff single and Achecar ended the inning with a tough, swinging stab of a bounding short-hop to first base.
That still wasn’t all. Left-handed reliever Jackson Lancaster got the benefits of the Raptors’ defense to start the ninth when Navarro hit a grounder in the hole to the right of Valdez at shortstop. Valdez got to his backhand in the outfield grass, spun and threw somewhat blindly to get the ball to first.
The looping throw, due to Valdez’s momentum carrying him away from the throw, was the only play to be made. It beat Navarro, a catcher, to the first-base bag by a hair.
Lancaster got Annone to fly out to Adams in left and Joe Encarnacion hit a high fly to Reese Alexiades in centerfield, which sent the Raptors onto the field to celebrate after the ball hit Alexadies’ glove.
Each team finished with six hits. Rocky Mountain’s Navarro and Ogden’s Adams were the only batters to record more than one hit. Valdez tripled and Andrew Noviello doubled for the Raptors.
The two teams finish the series at 7 pm Saturday and 2 pm Sunday to end the first-half schedule.
There are still 50 games left in the Pioneer League regular season, but Ogden securing a spot in the playoffs come season’s end is gratifying for a team that went through a tough stretch in June.
“It feels amazing. We had to come together as a team,” Day said. “We were playing bad, we weren’t as focused, but we locked back in to end the first half and make the run.”
From the start of spring training, the Raptors have had seven players sign minor league contracts with major league teams and, after starting the season 7-3, obstacles began to mount.
Starting shortstop Fox Semones and the team’s best starting pitcher, Gunnar Groen, were signed by the Diamondbacks near the same time Ogden lost starting outfielder Anthony Ray to a broken leg and the team went 3-5 on a road trip to Grand Junction, dropping the Raptors to 16-14 and into second place in the South Division.
But Broughton surged at the plate after taking hold of the leadoff spot, the offense began to explode and Ogden is 12-4 since.
“When guys were called on, they did their job. We never let that get us down,” Beauchamp said. “It’s team chemistry … I’ve been doing this for a long time and this is the best bunch of kids I’ve ever managed as far as quality human beings.
“Every kid in this room is a quality human and a great ball player, and there’s not one player here who doesn’t deserve what happened on the field.”
BEAUCHAMP REFLECTS
Beauchamp’s professional baseball career began when he was the No. 1 pick in the 1982 draft. Forty years later, and 28 into his managing career with many stops in independent leagues, he asked to turn the recorder back on to make a statement on his time in Ogden.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and this is absolutely my favorite job I’ve ever had in independent baseball,” he said. “I’ve got a wonderful owner and a tremendous support staff. My coaches have been outstanding. Les Lancaster’s the best pitching coach, he ought to be in the big leagues.
“It started in spring training with (team president) Dave Baggott having the faith in me to give me this job and I couldn’t be happier, from the clubbies to the bat boys to the front-office staff, it’s just been phenomenal. ”
FRIDAY SCORES
Ogden 3, Rocky Mountain 0
Northern Colorado at Grand Junction, postponed
Idaho Falls 11, Boise 3
Great Falls 7, Missoula 3
Glacier 13, Billings 3
PIONEER LEAGUE STANDINGS
2 games left in 1st half
NORTH DIVISION
*Missoula 33-12
Great Falls 27-18
Idaho Falls 25-21
Billings 23-21
Glacier 17-28
SOUTH DIVISION
*Ogden 28-18
Grand Junction 24-21
Northern Colorado 16-26
Boise 17-29
Rocky Mountain 14-30
*–clinched 1st half title
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