Villa Lights Out, Titans Use Three in Ninth to Shock Aigles

OFFICIAL FRONTIER LEAGUE BOX SCORE

Trois-Rivières, QC - It took until the ninth, but the Ottawa Titans (46-40) plated three big runs to blank the Trois-Rivières Aigles (34-52) by a 3-0 final on Wednesday - moving into a tie for the final wild card spot in the Atlantic Conference.

Alfredo Villa (win, 10-2) dominated his way through eight scoreless innings to keep the Titans afloat. The right-hander went a season-high eight innings, allowing no runs on five hits, not walking a batter, and striking out five. Villa becomes the second pitcher in franchise history to record ten or more wins in a season, joining Zac Westcott, who won 11 in 2022.

The right-hander pitched around a leadoff Mathieu Vallé double in the bottom of the first, then escaped trouble in the fifth following a Victor Sanchez double that put two runners in scoring position. Villa ended his night retiring the final ten batters he faced.

Jesen Therrien (ND, 5-4) was untouchable himself. The former big leaguer went seven scoreless, allowing three hits, walking one, and striking out seven in the no-decision.

The Titans loaded the bags in the top of the fifth against Therrien, threatening to open the scoring. Robert Chayka walked, while Victor Cerny and Tyler Martin reached on errors, flipping the lineup card around to the top. Therrien fanned Jackie Urbaez before getting Taylor Wright to line out to second base to get the Aigles out of the jam to keep the game scoreless.

In the eighth, the Titans put two on against Luis Manuel Rodriguez. Cristian Inoa recorded his second hit of the night, extending his multi-hit streak to six games in a row, while Justin Fogel walked to stand aboard. The rookie righty retired Jake Sanford and Victor Cerny on strikes to keep the contest tied.

With Kaiden Cardoso's single at first to start the ninth, Alexander Castro (loss, 4-5) got the Aigles one out shy of sending a 0-0 game to the bottom half, before Jackie Urbaez ripped a double to right-centre. The double and E8, after the ball rolled under the glove of Justin Farmer, allowed Cardoso to score to put the Titans ahead. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Fogel was beaned to bring one home before Sanford clubbed an RBI single to right to make it 3-0.

Following the eight scoreless from Villa, right-hander Mark Simon (save, 1) worked a clean ninth in his Titans debut to secure the series win.

The Titans win their first season series over the Aigles since the inaugural 2022 campaign. 

With the New York Boulders rained out in Tri-City, the Titans are now tied with the Boulders for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Conference with 10 games to go. 

The Ottawa Titans finish a seven-game road trip with the finale of a four-game series against the Trois-Rivières Aigles on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. at Stade Quillorama in Trois-Rivières, Québec. After the series in Trois-Rivières, the Titans return home on Friday to open a series with the Brockton Rox. All the action can be heard on CKDJ 107.9 and 94,5 Unique FM and live-streamed on Frontier League TV, powered by HomeTeam Network.

For information on Ottawa Titans’ 2025 Single-Game Tickets, Group Outings, and 2026 ticket packages, visit the Titans’ official website at www.ottawatitans.com.