A crowd of 6,149 fans cheered Ogden designated hitter Connor Bagnieski back to the plate with one out in the eighth inning and the game already in control with a 13-2 score.

With one more big swing, Bagnieski became the first player in the 87-year history of the Pioneer Baseball League to hit four home runs in one game, taking a solo shot to right field and capping a 14-2 win for Ogden.

That on only the second night in Raptors history to reach the 6,000-fan mark, rivaled only by Lindquist Field’s 1997 grand opening that welcomed 6,317 fans into the ballpark. The usually popular “Military Affairs Night” blew past its usual attendance mark somewhere in the 5,000-range Wednesday night as local military members and families flocked downtown.

“One of the more electric nights and crowds we’ve ever had,” Raptors team president Dave Baggott said. “Hill Air Force Base did a good job getting people out, we hit well, pitched well, the weather was great. Just a perfect night.”

Bagnieski, 27 and a Wisconsin native, is in his second season with the Raptors and in the PBL. The left-handed hitter pulled three of his four dingers to right field, starting with a three-run shot in the first inning.

Raptors (17-15) catcher Chris Sargent hit his ninth homer of the season in the second, his own three-run blast, to help Ogden to a 7-0 lead over the Owlz (5-26) through two innings.

Bagnieski went deep to center for a two-run homer in the third, then hit a solo shot in the fifth that put Ogden ahead 10-1.

Bagnieski’s first shot at history came in the sixth inning when he struck out swinging. But he converted in the eighth inning to put his name alone in the record book and delight the large crowd.

The Pioneer League’s 1939-2019 record book (before affiliation ended in 2020 and the PBL relaunched in 2021 as an independent partner league) says 16 PBL players hit three home runs in one game. Several notable instances came at Lindquist Field.

One, omitted from the PBL record book as a 17th, came when big Ogden lefty Justin Chigbogu cracked three home runs in a July 18, 2014, home win over Great Falls. Another came on Aug. 2, 2011, when Orem’s future big leaguer CJ Cron hit three at Lindquist Field.

One memorable night in Raptors lore saw Ogden catcher/designated hitter Kade Johnson launch three moonshots in a Sept. 2000 home playoff matchup, a Game 1 contest in the divisional series against Idaho Falls. Future minor league umpire JJ January also went yard twice for the Raptors but Johnson struck out to end the game in extra innings. (Johnson would go on to hit two more homers in Game 2 on the road before Idaho Falls, who went on to beat Missoula for the championship, took Game 3 in Ogden.)

A running four-home-run-game tracker for all levels of pro baseball in the United States by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), beginning in 1889 and last updated with Eugenio Suarez’s four-homer night April 26 this year, has no entries for four-homer games in the Pioneer League.

Bagnieski finished with seven RBIs, adding to recent single-game successes for the Raptors. Just Sunday in Idaho Falls, Sargent racked up nine RBIs in an Ogden victory (the PBL record for single-game RBIs is 11, set by Billings’ Ben Broussard in 1999.)

As for the rest of Wednesday’s game, Ogden outhit Northern Colorado 16-5 and righty Shane Gustafson picked up the win, allowing one earned run on four hits over six innings, striking out four and walking two.

Nico Saltaformaggio, the rookie debut of lefty Sean Wiese (Arizona Christian), and Christian Griffin faced one over the minimum in the final three innings (a NoCo hit against Wiese) to cruise to the victory.

Northern Colorado had five players each hit one single.

For Ogden, Kenny Oyama hit 3 for 5 while Sargent, True Fontenot and Dylan Wilkinson each had two hits.

The two teams continue the series Thursday through Sunday.