June 16, 2022

Official Ottawa Titans News Release

Ottawa, Ont. - The Ottawa Titans (20-7) kept their red-hot bats going en route to their ninth series win of the season, defeating the Trois-Rivières Aigles 12-7 on Thursday night.

After Zac Westcott needed all but four pitches to retire the Aigles in order in the top of the first, Brendon Dadson (Bowmanville, Ont.) provided some early offence, blasting a solo shot to left. Dadson took Aigles starter Osman Gutierrez deep for his fourth homer of the year.

The Aigles converted with a pair of their own in the second as Steve Brown plated on what seemed to be a double-play ball that first baseman Dadson threw off the mitt of the shortstop Andrew Martinez into left to tie the game at one. Elliott Curtis (Kitchener, Ont.) came to the plate next and gave the visitors the lead with a sac fly to left, scoring Carlos Martinez.

In the bottom half, Will Zimmerman knocked in Tyrus Greene with a double that hugged the third-base bag to tie the game. Martinez stepped up two batters later and floated a single to give the Titans the lead as Zimmerman plated.

As Juan Kelly led off the fourth with a no-doubt solo shot in the fourth, the Titans used the game-tying blast as fuel to score four runs on four hits off Gutierrez in the last of the fifth, putting them back ahead.

In the four-run fifth, Jake Sanford (Cole Harbour, N.S.) belted a three-run shot for his eighth homer of the season over the wall in right, snapping an 0-for-10 streak in the series.

The Titans took control in the sixth, putting up a five-spot of relievers Carlo Graffeo and Josh Smith, as the Titans sent 10 to the plate to put the game out of reach.

Westcott's night came to a close in the eighth, as the Aigles added three more off the righty who was relieved by Grant Larson. The Weston, Fla., native pitched a season-high 7 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs (five earned), on six hits, walking two, and striking out four for his fifth win of the year.

The Ottawa Titans are back in action Friday evening as they hit the road to open three-game series with the New Jersey Jackals at 7:05 p.m. from Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls, N.J. The club returns home for a six-game homestand beginning on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., to face the Sussex County Miners.