For a moment, it looked like the Ogden Raptors wouldn’t be able to give ace Ronny Orta quite enough run support as he pitched deep into Tuesday’s series opener against the Northern Colorado Owlz at Lindquist Field.

But the Raptors pieced together just enough hits and won the battle of closers to claim a 3-2 victory when Jesus Valdez singled in Dusytn Macaluso with no outs in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win in front of 4,486 fans.

Orta and NoCo starter Will Buraconak threw strikingly similar games in the duel, each going eight innings, striking out eight, walking one and allowing two runs. Orta gave up five hits and Buraconak eight, though it was an unearned run early that made a difference.

Ogden’s Josh Broughton led off the game reaching via error and scored on a Matt Warkentin single for a 1-0 lead.

But courtesy of a caught-stealing and a double-play grounder, Buraconak then faced the minimum and cruised through the Raptors (42-31, 13-12) lineup from the third through the sixth innings.

Orta, meanwhile, was perfect the first time through the Northern Colorado (26-43, 9-15) order. But the fourth inning nearly stood as the decider when Alex Jackson led off with a walk, scored on a Cameron Phelts triple to right and infielder Brandon Crosby singled in Phelts to give the Owlz a 2-1 lead.

Orta kept command while waiting for the offense to strike back. He gave up two singles in his final four innings of work, neither of which advanced past first base, to keep the Owlz at bay.

Ogden tied it up in the seventh when Brian Dansereau singled and took second on a fielding error, then immediately scored when Valdez punched a single to center field.

The Raptors nearly took the lead against Buraconak in the eighth when Broughton got to third base on a Gunnar Buhner single with one out. Buhner then got intentionally hung up off first base in a double-steal situation to try and get the speedy Broughton to the plate, but Broughton was thrown out in the attempt.

Brandon McCabe took over for Orta in the top of the ninth and swiftly put the Owlz down, recording a tap-back to the mound and two strikeouts to keep it 2-2.

Christian Griffin had less luck for NoCo in the bottom of the ninth, failing to record an out. Warkentin led off doing what has done since joining the team — get on base — with a base hit to center. Warkentin hit 2 for 3 on the night and drew a walk, moving his on-base percentage to .621 in his week-plus with the club.

Macaluso came on to pinch run for the tall first baseman and escaped trouble. He got hung up on a back-pick from Owlz catcher Marshall Rich, so much so that his only move was to start running toward second. Nick Bottari’s throw to second base, however, found Macaluso’s back, and he stepped into the bag safely.

Northern Colorado then intentionally walked Dansereau to set up force-outs around the infield but would get no such chance. Valdez pulled a single into left field and Macaluso scored standing up to claim the win.

The two teams continue the series at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

TUESDAY SCORES

Ogden 3, Northern Colorado 2

Boise 5, Glacier 3

Missoula 6, Idaho Falls 4

Billings 6, Great Falls 4

Rocky Mountain at Grand Junction, postponed (rescheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday in doubleheader)

PIONEER LEAGUE STANDINGS

Second Half

NORTH DIVISION

*Missoula 17-8 (52-20 overall)

Idaho Falls 13-11 (41-31)

Great Falls 13-12 (40-32)

Billings 13-12 (38-33)

Glacier 10-15 (27-45)

SOUTH DIVISION

Grand Junction 18-6 (44-28)

*Ogden 13-12 (42-31)

Rocky Mountain 11-12 (27-42)

Northern Colorado 9-15 (26-43)

Boise 5-19 (22-50)

*- denotes first-half champion

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