Titans fall in opener to Boulders

Ottawa, ON – Tied up at one in the ninth, the Ottawa Titans (43-30) allowed a go-ahead single to eventually drop the opener of a three-game series 3-2 to the New York Boulders on Tuesday night.

Following a scoreless first from Tyler Jandron (ND, 7-3), the Titans loaded the bases with nobody out. Right-hander Andy Hammond (ND, 5-2) got Jake Sanford to bounce into a double play, scoring an AJ Wright leadoff double to put the Titans in front 1-0.

Jandron would make the single tally in the first hold-up through six shutout innings in his 14th start of the season.

Both starters got into a rhythm, at one point retiring upwards of 10 in a row respectively in the series opener.

After a one-out double from Gabriel Garcia, Jandron surrendered the tying run on a Chris Kwitzer RBI double in the top of the seventh.

The Titans’ lefty plunked the pinch hitter Tucker Nathans, to put a pair on, as Gavin Sonnier got Ray Hernandez to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Jandron once again impressed on the mound by going six and a third, allowing one run, on four hits, and striking out eight. Since being activated from the IL, Jandron has only allowed nine earned runs across 33.1 innings, fanning 39.

In the last of the sixth, two reached against Hammond, who gave way to right-hander Matt Leon. the righty allowed Sanford to reach on an error to load the bases. Looking to break through, Leon retired Clay Fisher and Brendon Dadson on strikes to get out of the threat.

As the bullpens took over, Grant Larson (loss, 5-4) rolled a perfect eighth, as the Titans put two on with nobody out against all-star Danny Wirchansky (win, 4-3) in a tie game. The southpaw managed to strike out the next three Titans batters to get out of the jam.

In the ninth, a leadoff double from David Vinsky stood on base as Larson intentionally walked a pair of Boulders with two away. Larson served up a go-ahead two-run single off the bat of Hernandez, who put the Boulders in front 3-1.

Wirchansky gave up a one-out single to Kai Moody in the bottom half, as Rodrigo Orozco laced a double off the fence in left to make things interesting. Malik Williams plated Moody with an RBI groundout, putting the tying run in Orozco 90 feet away with two down. The lefty got Wright to pop out to Austin Dennis at short to end the ballgame.

The Ottawa Titans continue their series with the New York Boulders on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Ottawa Stadium. All the action can be heard locally on CKDJ 107.9 and 94,5 Unique FM, while also being available worldwide at CKDJ.net and uniquefm.ca.

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

The post Titans fall in opener to Boulders first appeared on Ottawa Titans Baseball Club.