Titans encounter early deficit, fall in extras to wrap up first half

Ottawa, ON – Falling behind 5-0 in the early going, the Ottawa Titans (35-23) battled back late to tie the Quebec Capitales on Sunday. The series finale saw the Titans drop a 6-5 decision in extras to end the first half of the season.

All-Star Zac Westcott (ND, 7-1) toed the rubber for the Titans in the series finale and quickly fell behind as TJ White clobbered a solo shot onto Coventry Road in the second. In the third, the Capitales continued the pressure loading the bases with one out as White stepped up. White smacked his second homer of the game over the wall in left-centre, as the grand slam put the Capitales ahead 5-0.

Fellow All-Star Miguel Cienfuegos (ND, 7-1) retired the first 10 he faced on Sunday, striking out three. The Titans got to the Canadian southpaw in the third, as AJ Wright doubled to centre, and was later stranded 90 feet away.

The Titans got on the board in the sixth against reliever Carlos Sano with Jackie Urbaez belting his ninth homer of the year. Urbaez’s two-run blast over the wall in right made it a 5-2 game. After a Clay Fisher single, Jason Dicochea doubled to centre to make it a two-run game, scoring Fisher all the way from first.

With one on and two outs, Tyrus Greene singled to left as Dicochea got the wave around third. Capitales’ left-fielder Marc-Antoine Lebreux threw out Dicochea at the plate to retire the side, keeping it a 5-3 game.

Westcott got the hook after six innings, where David Gauthier and Kaleb Schmidt tossed a clean seventh to keep the game close.

In the eighth, the Titans rallied by putting two on with two outs as Dicochea stepped up. Dicochea smacked a double to left off righty Samuel Adames (win, 4-3) to tie the game at five.

Grant Larson and Gavin Sonnier tossed two clean innings out of the bullpen, as it seemed destined for the Titans to salvage the final game of the series.

As neither team managed to score in the ninth, Kevin Escorcia (loss, 1-1) was brought on for the tenth and allowed a leadoff base hit from White. With runners on the corners, Jonathan Lacroix cashed in the start-up runner with a sac fly to centre.

In the bottom half, AJ Wright drew a walk against Ian Codina (save, 1), as the meat of the order was scheduled to bat. Codina bounced back by getting Urbaez to ground into a double play and got Fisher to fly out to end the game.

The extra innings loss for the Titans sees the club extend their season-high losing streak to five, while the Capitales continue to run away with the East Division by capturing their twelfth in a row.

Following a four-day All-Star break, the Ottawa Titans open up the second half of the season at home on Friday to take on the Lake Erie Crushers at 6:30 p.m. from Ottawa Stadium.

For information on Ottawa Titans’ 2022 season tickets, group outings, and 8-game mini packs, visit the Titans’ official website at www.ottawatitans.com.

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