Raptors Come Up Short in Tight Game 5

Despite a late push from the offense, the Raptors couldn’t complete the comeback Saturday night, falling 4–2 to the Boise Hawks in Game 5 of the six-game set.

Boise struck first in the third inning and padded their lead with two more in the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles from T. Darden and Myro IV. The Raptors found themselves trailing 3–0 midway through the game, but stayed within reach thanks to a competitive outing from starter Rolando Gutierrez Rosario, who made his first appearance of the season. The right-hander went five innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, striking out two, and walking just one in a solid season debut.

The bullpen once again kept Ogden in striking distance. Shawn Triplett followed up Gutierrez Rosario with two clean innings, allowing just one hit and striking out two, and Chris Griffin closed out the eighth with two punchouts of his own. Boise did manage to tack on an insurance run late in the eighth with an RBI double from Max Jung-Gold, extending the lead to 4–1.

Ogden’s offense was held mostly in check through seven innings, but began to show signs of life late. In the eighth, Kenny Oyama reached base and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Elliot Good to get the Raptors on the board. Then in the ninth, after Charles Updegrave singled and True Fontenot tallid a knock of his own, Carmine Lane brought Fontenot home on a sac fly to trim the lead to two.

Fontenot led the way at the plate with a 2-for-4 night, while Cole Jordan and Charles Updegrave each added hits in the middle of the order. Still, the Raptors couldn’t come up with the big swing to erase the deficit and were held to just four hits on the night.

With the loss, the Raptors still have the series lead at 3-2, and they’ll be shooting for the 4-2 series win in Sunday’s finale before heading back home to Lindquist Field for a three-game series against the Great Falls Voyagers beginning Tuesday, June 10 at 6:30 PM