The Ogden Raptors bounced back from a tough start in Missoula to open the second half, established an additional power hitter in Dane Tofteland and grabbed two straight wins.

But Missoula claimed that series and the Boise Hawks continued Ogden’s skid as the Raptors returned to Lindquist Field for a homestand beginning Tuesday and opened the six-game set with two more defeats.

Wednesday night, Boise shortstop Trevor Minder made Ogden starter Brock Gilliam pay for some control issues, hitting a grand slam in the top of the third to give the visiting Hawks the cushion they’d need for the rest of the contest.

Boise went on to an 11-4 win Wednesday to take the first two games of the series.

After winning the first-half division championship, Ogden is now 2-6 in the second half while facing two of the league’s better foes. The Raptors are 33-23 overall.

Minder’s homer came after a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Gilliam, usually Ogden’s ace, missed on taking the solo lead for pitching wins in the Pioneer League by issuing four walks in three innings, allowing six earned runs on six hits. The Minder blast made it 6-0.

Juan Teixeira doubled in a run and Rafael Narea followed with a two-run homer in the bottom half of the fourth but that only made it 8-3 because Alex Baeza and Anthony Walters hit consecutive solo shots off Raptors lefty Chase Stratton in the top half of the frame.

Riley Ottesen nearly pitched out of Stratton’s no-out, bases-loaded jam in the top of the sixth, getting two force outs at the plate but then walking two to make it 10-3.

Ogden loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and got one home on a Landen Barns RBI single but Dakota Conners then grounded into a double play to end the threat.

Baeza hit another solo shot in the eighth for Boise.

HAWKS 8, RAPTORS 5

Dane Tofteland hit his sixth homer of the season to break a tie, a solo shot that helped the Raptors to take a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning Tuesday to open this week’s homestand but the seventh inning again bit Ogden.

Boise knocked Raptors starter Pablo Arevalo out with a Raymond Gil solo homer to open the seventh inning, then scored three more runs against lefty Quinn Waterhouse in the same frame to take an 8-4 lead and go on to the win.

Boise outhit Ogden 14-7 and outfielder Nick Ultsch was the only multi-hit batter for the home team.

SERIES IN MISSOULA

Ogden started the second-half 0-3 against the Pioneer League’s best team, the Missoula PaddleHeads, after losing in a Knockout derby two straight nights. But the Raptors bounced back with a 15-7 win on July 21, coming back from an early 4-0 hole in a rally sparked by a Dane Tofteland two-run homer in the second inning and Riley Ottesen got the win in middle relief.

The Raptors prevailed again the next night, 9-7, when Reese Alexiades, Juan Teixeira and Nick Ultsch all hit solo homers in the eighth inning. That gave Alexiades 20 homers on the year, pushing his league-leading total to a cushion of five at the time.

That gave Ogden a chance to leave Missoula with a series split on Sunday but the PaddleHeads handed the Raptors just their second series loss of the season. A 2-1 Ogden lead turned into a 10-2 deficit, the eventual final score, when Ed Baram’s great start fell apart in the seventh inning. Missoula scored nine runs against Baram and Marshall Shill in the frame, singling the pitchers into a bevy of runs.

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