Big Innings, Quality Start Power Titans to Win Over ValleyCats

OFFICIAL FRONTIER LEAGUE BOX SCORE

Ottawa, ON - In their return home celebrating Holidays in July, the Ottawa Titans (36-26) bounced back with a huge 11-4 win over the Tri-City ValleyCats (35-29) on Friday, snapping their two-game slide.

Grant Larson (win, 5-4) ended a two-game losing streak of his own - hurling his seventh quality start of the campaign, allowing just three runs over six innings of work, walking two, and striking out four.

Down 1-0 after an inning and a half - the Titans' offence exploded against left-hander Alfredo Ruiz (loss, 2-3) - seeing the first two of the second inning reach. Former ValleyCat Lamar Briggs haunted his former club with a go-ahead two-run double to right, giving the Titans the lead for good. Before it was all said and done in the second - Taylor Wright drove in one with an RBI single before Aaron Casillas made it a 4-1 game with a sac fly.

In the fifth, Brendan O'Donnell smashed a no-doubt homer to left - making it a 6-1 game. The rookie's hot streak continues and has now reached base in all 23 professional games he's appeared in.

The lead seemed plenty - but the red-hot ValleyCats attempted a comeback, capitalizing with two against Larson to make it a three-run game in the sixth. Ian Walters ripped an RBI double to the right-centre gap before Tyson Gingrich drove in his second of the game with a single to right. What could've been an even bigger inning went for not - as a baserunning miscue ended the frame on the single, resulting in Ian Walters being caught in a rundown between third and home.

Over the next two frames offensively - the Titans peppered five more runs combined against rookie right-hander Nick DeCarlo. In the sixth, AJ Wright ripped an RBI double off the wall in centre. Two hit batters brought home runs in the seventh, while a wild pitch scored another, and a Christian Ibarra ground ball plated four to put the game definitely out of reach.

McLain Harris allowed one run in his lone inning of work before Matt Dallas and Taylor Wright combined for two scoreless innings in relief.

Lamar Briggs went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI while Aaron Casillas recorded two hits. Michael Fuhrman reached base three times by being hit by a pitch and Jamey Smart walked twice going 1-for-3 as the Titans snapped their four-game home losing streak.

The Ottawa Titans play game two of their three-game set against the Tri-City ValleyCats on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. from Ottawa Stadium. All the action can be heard on CKDJ 107.9 and 94,5 Unique FM and live-streamed on Flo Baseball.

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