Ogden Raptors bullpen preserves early-inning lead for Friday win in Boise

BRETT HEIN, Standard-Examiner
Ogden Raptors helmets sit on an equipment room shelf on May 23, 2025, at Lindquist Field in Ogden.Five Ogden Raptors relievers allowed just five baserunners in six innings, preserving an early surge of runs on the way to an 8-6 win Friday in Boise, taking a 3-1 series lead against the Hawks.
All but one of the game’s 14 runs were scored in the first four innings as starting pitchers took beatings.
Ogden (8-8) led 3-1 after one inning on a Cole Jordan two-RBI double. Newcomer Dylan Wilkinson hit a solo home run for the Raptors in the second, but Boise (8-8) made it a 3-1 second frame in its favor, tying the game 4-4 on a Maxfield Jung-Goldberg two-run single.
Ogden starter Shane Gustafson and Boise starter Braden Carmichael managed a scoreless third inning before surrendering more. Carmichael finished the fourth inning but not before allowing three more runs, led by Wilkinson driving in two more with a single.
The Hawks began to answer against Gustafson, plating one on an error and a single. Gustafson then hit Paul Myro IV with a pitch and was removed for Nico Saltaformaggio. Myro later scored on a Saltaformaggio wild pitch to make it 7-6 but Ogden got a big out at the plate, tagging Noah Marcelo on a ground ball to Carmine Lane at third base to help preserve the lead.
Thanks to the bullpen, that would be all the Raptors would need. After getting out of the fourth, Saltaformaggio faced the minimum in the fifth via a ground-ball double play following a single. Jestin Jones and Christian Ciuffetelli each threw a hitless inning, and Cameron Edmondson pitched around a hit with two strikeouts in the eighth.
All totaled, Ogden pitchers struck out 12, walked one, and allowed three hits in the final six innings.
Boise’s bullpen was nearly as good, allowing two hits and one walk in the final five innings. All of that came in the same inning, however, to allow Ogden an insurance run; Damian Stone led off the seventh with a walk, advanced on a True Fontenot single and scored on a Chris Sargent sacrifice fly.
That insurance run looked important for a moment in the ninth when Boise got to Nik Cardinal. After two quick outs, Jeremiah Begora singled and Joseph Kalafut walked, putting the tying run aboard and the winning run at the plate. Cardinal stopped any hope there by striking out JC Santini to end the game.
Jordan’s first-inning double and Wilkinson’s homer were the only extra-basers in a six-hit game for Ogden’s offense, which prevailed despite Boise’s 11 hits. Wilkinson finished 2 for 4 with three RBIs and Jordan 2 for 5 with two RBIs.
Catcher Ryan Grabosch hit 3 for 4 with a double to lead Boise at the dish.
The two teams play the fifth game of the series at 7:05 p.m. Saturday and conclude the set at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.