The Vernon Diamondbacks are finally in the win column.
All it took was clutch hitting, and one of the gutsiest efforts on the mound in team history on Sunday morning at Marshall Field.
Oggie Ortman started on the hill for the D-backs, and would not leave, throwing a 168-pitch, nine-inning complete game to give Vernon a 9-6 win over Connor and Kellen Jones and the Trail Orioles.
After giving up a run in the first, the D-backs responded after two walks to start the bottom half. Josh Wade singled to load the bases before the Trail starter settled down and retired the next two.
With runners moving on a 3-2 count, Ryan Boe provided a clutch bases-clearing double to give the D-backs a 3-1 lead. Over the next four innings, Trail chipped away, going up 4-3 through their half of the sixth.
Vernon cranked the offence up once more, loading the bases, and taking a risk with a suicide squeeze, which was executed perfectly by Reiner Nikolai. Boe scored behind Ortman (who was on third) on a heads up base-running play.
TJ Novakowski, who made his season debut, scored on a Mike Patitucci single. Emotions ran high in the inning after some bang-bang plays on the basepaths, with both benches yapping back and forth.
In the top of the eighth, Trail scored two more to tie things up before Vernon took advantage of more walks. Patitucci did a great job moving the runners to second and third when Pete Ortman cashed in Novakowski, and Nikolai scored on a wild pitch. Pete Ortman also scored.
In the top of the ninth, with Oggie Ortman’s pitch count reaching the 150 mark, he plunked the lead-off hitter, followed by a failed double-play leaving a runner on second with one out. Peter Ortman picked his brother up with a diving catch for the second out, followed by the 168th pitch of the day being a game-ending strikeout.
On Saturday, the D-backs fell 11-1 and 6-0. Jay Mielke (from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.) pitched extremely well over six innings, giving up only three runs in the second game.
The Diamondbacks travel to Kamloops Friday night for their only game of the week. against the Black Sox. Vernon is back home Saturday, June 25 versus Kelowna Jays.