The puzzled look on Derrick Walker's face mirrored that of the 2,321 Orem Owlz fans.

How could Walker double with a man on second in the ninth inning and cost his team the gamefi

Riddle me that, Owlz fans.

Orem first basemen Gordie Gronkowski can answer that. Tuesday night when Orem hosted Missoula, Gronkowski noticed that Walker missed first base. When Orem appealed the play, the umpire sided with Gronkowski and called Walker out which meant the run didn't count and Orem had won the game, 6-5.

"It was really close. I think he missed it by about an inch or two. He didn't hit any part of the middle of the bag so it kind of made it easy for the umpire. I still thought he was going to call him safe because you don't see that happen too often," Gronkowski said. "It's actually something I look at almost every time. Definitely on an extra-base hit you want to make sure they touch first base. The umpire is watching him, as well. If I don't see it, I don't think anyone else would have seen it."

Orem manager Tom Kotchman said he had never seen a game end that way and credited Gronkowski for the heads-up play.

"You've got to give the credit to Gordie, because Gordie was watching it. That's why you do that," he said. "You glance. If he doesn't glance, you never see it."

The Owlz took a 6-5 lead to the ninth, but had trouble closing out the Osprey. Eli Rumler singled with one out. He tried to steal second, but was thrown out by catcher Anel De Los Santos on a throw that shortstop Andrew Romine made a nice shortstop stop-and-tag play on.

But Missoula wasn't done yet.

Taylor Harbin doubled to left-center. Walker followed with a double down the right-field line to drive in Harbin and apparently tie the game before Gronkowski gave his manager and reliever Brian Chambers a fitting birthday present.

Both Kotchman and Chambers celebrated their birthdays on Tuesday. The Owlz handed out cupcakes to celebrate Kotchman's birthday and gave out Nick Adenhart (Angels pitching prospect) bobble heads.

The Owlz nearly gave away the game, too.

Orem led 4-2 heading into the eighth inning thanks, in large part, to a solo home run and an RBI double from Julio Perez. But the Osprey charged back with three runs in the eighth.

The inning started with a Harbin double. Walker drove him home with a single. Jimmy Principe then hit a ground ball to Romine at short. He bobbled the ball and Principe beat the throw to first. After Gerado Bustamente bunted the runners over, Reynaldo Navarro doubled in both runs to put Missoula on top.

The Owlz answered with a pair of runs in the home half of the eighth. Jeremy Moore got the inning started with a single and then stole second. De Los Santos popped up, but Rian Kiniry came through with a pinch-hit infield single and took second on an errant throw to first. Romine then doubled off the wall to score Kiniry and give Orem the lead.

"It was a nice win and a weird one. I mean, you're still sitting there after the game shaking your head," Kotchman said. "Just when you think you've seen it all, you see something like that. Weird game. Weird day. I'll have to watch driving home."

Orem will go for a sweep in the series tonight when the Owlz host Missoula at 7 p.m.

Neil Warner can be reached at nwarner@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.