Walks Haunt Titans in Loss to Capitales

OFFICIAL FRONTIER LEAGUE BOX SCORE

Québec City, QC - Starting their final series of the season, the Ottawa Titans (48-46) allowed seven walks in an 8-6 loss to the Québec Capitales (58-35) on Friday.

Bryan Peña (loss, 4-4) walked five over five and a third in his final start of the season in the series opener, seeing a leadoff walk score in the bottom of the first. The free pass to start the inning ended up 90 feet away after a stolen base and a wild pitch with one out, scoring on Greg Bird's RBI groundout.

The Titans' offence did all they could in the opener against Canadian Harley Gollert (win, 7-0), leaving two in scoring position in the top of the first inning. In the second, an infield hit, and a walk stood aboard for Jamey Smart, who roped a two-run double to left-centre to put the Titans up 2-1.

After the walk to open the night, Peña retired ten straight before the Capitales got their first hit of the night in the fourth inning. Canadian Justin Gideon's sac fly tied the game at two, as Jesmuel Valentin crossed the plate.

In the fifth, back-to-back singles were aboard for Jake Sanford, who chopped an RBI single up the middle to put the Titans in front 3-2.

The Capitales then took over on home soil, with Ruben Castro's go-ahead three run homer in the bottom of the fifth to put the home side back in front.

In the sixth, the Capitales added two more against Peña to knock him out of the game. Peña allowed seven runs on just three hits, walking five, and striking out six. The wheels then fell off for the Titans as Evan Berkey entered and only threw six pitches in relief. TJ White and Jonathan Lacroix each were hit by the first pitch they saw before Tommy Siedl walked on four pitches. Daulton Montagna allowed an inherited runner to score, as the Capitales sent nine to the plate and scored three more on one hit, extending the lead to 8-3.

The offence chipped away with tallies in each of the final three innings against a trio of different Capitales' relievers. A sac fly from Austin Davis in the seventh got one back, scoring Jason Dicochea's single against Franklin Parra. In the eighth, AJ Wright's 22^nd double of the year crossed the plate on a balk committed by Elliot Carney. In the ninth, Austin Davis' first professional home run off Frank Moscatiello (save, 20) finished the scoring as the Titans were only able to get within a pair.

AJ Wright extended his hit streak to 15 by going 2-for-5. Jamey Smart also impressed, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI.

The Ottawa Titans are back at it in their final series of the 2023 regular season on Saturday, continuing a three-game set with the Québec Capitales at 7:05 p.m. from Stade Canac. All the action can be heard on CKDJ 107.9 and 94,5 UNIK FM and live-streamed on Flo Baseball. For information on 2023 single-game tickets, group outings, nine-game mini packs, and 2024 season tickets, visit the Titans’ official website at www.ottawatitans.com.