Titans Drop Pitchers' Duel to Miners

OFFICIAL FRONTIER LEAGUE BOX SCORE

Ottawa, ON - The Ottawa Titans (11-24) suffered their fifth series sweep of the season, dropping the finale to the Sussex County Miners (26-10) by a 9-4 final on Thursday night.

Starters Shane Gray (loss, 1-3) and Rob Hensey (win, 4-1) went toe-to-toe, each giving their sides quality starts. For Gray, the righty allowed two runs on nine hits, walking three, and striking out six over six innings - while left-hander Hensey went seven and two-thirds, allowing two runs on five hits with 11 strikeouts.

The Miners struck first against Gray in the top of the third - with Mahki Backstrom driving in the opening run of the contest with an RBI single to left-centre. For Backstrom, the hit headlined a 4-for-5 night.

Silenced through four, Jackie Urbaez kickstarted the offence with a leadoff double to the gap in right-centre off Hensey to start the fifth inning. Two batters later, Victor Cerny continued his hot streak with an RBI single through the left side of the drawn-in infield to tie the score at one.

The tie score did not last long, as Alec Sayre put the Miners ahead for good with a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the sixth inning.

After scoring twice off Zach Cameron in the eighth inning, the Miners took advantage of two errors in the ninth, tagging Grant Larson for five to put the game out of reach.

Following an RBI single from rookie Dylan Driver in the eighth - the offence made things interesting against Ronnie Voacolo in the ninth inning, scoring twice on a Michael Mugan two-run single.

In all three games of the series, the Titans' pitching staff allowed ten or more hits - as five Miners hitters posted multi-hit games in the finale.

Along with the sixth multi-hit performance of the season for Victor Cerny, Jackie Urbaez reached base twice with a double and a walk in the loss.

The Ottawa Titans will now hit the road for a six-game road trip with the first of a three-game series against the New York Boulders on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. at Clover Stadium in Pomona, New York. After the weekend set against New York, the Titans play their final road series of June with a trio against the Tri-City ValleyCats. All the action can be heard on CKDJ 107.9 and live-streamed on Frontier League TV, powered by HomeTeam Network.

For information on Ottawa Titans’ 2025 Season Tickets, Group Outings, and Nine-Game Mini Packs, visit the Titans’ official website at www.ottawatitans.com.