Casey Haerther singled to extend his hitting streak to 17 games and reliever Kyle Roberson pitched three innings of scoreless relief.

And?

Travis Witherspoon drew the loudest ovation of the night when he threw out Ogden's Pedro Guerrero, who was trying to tag up and reach third on a deep fly ball to center.

And?

Uh, that was about it.

The 2,445 fans that showed up to see the Orem Owlz and Ogden Raptors open up a two-game series in Orem on Wednesday night didn't have much to cheer about.

Ogden beat Orem 7-1, holding the Owlz to just five hits.

At least it was one-dollar night for hot dogs, popcorn and drinks.

Ogden starting pitcher Allen Webster went six innings. He gave up five hits and allowed just one unearned run. The Raptors then got Rolaids relief from Jordan Roberts, who pitched the final three innings for the save.

"We didn't swing the bats that well, but a lot of that had to do with their starting pitcher," said Orem manager Tom Kotchman. "Both teams have a lot of new players that weren't here earlier in the year. We haven't seen them since the first of the year, but we'll get to know their guys well enough that by the end of the year we'll know their middle names and their social security numbers and they will probably know ours too."

Orem and Ogden will play tonight in Orem and two more games in Ogden on Friday and Saturday. The two teams will also play the final four games of the season against each other. It figures to be an intriguing stretch of games since the series matches up the top two teams in the Pioneer League in hitting and pitching in what will likely be a first-round playoff preview.

Ogden won the first half of the season and already has a playoff spot secured. Orem came into Wednesday's game with a six-game lead over Idaho Falls with nine games to play.

Ogden effectively put the game away in the fourth when the Raptors got to Orem starter Tyler Kehrer for four runs.

Ogden showed why it leads the Pioneer League in home runs when Jeremy Wise led off the inning with a home run. After Kehrer got Nick Akins to fly out, Bryant Hernandez and Brian Ruggiano each singled.

The Owlz were officially in trouble because Brian Cavazos-Galvez was now up. Cavazos-Galvez was second in the league in home runs with 14.

Make that 15.

His 3-run shot pushed the score to 4-0.

"They scored their first four runs via the home run," Kotchman said. "We've got 35 and they've got 77, more than double the home runs we have. They have big, strong, physical guys who can do that with their power and they can make you pay for it."

Orem got on the board in the bottom of inning. Kevin Ramos walked to get the inning going and Justin Bass singled. Webster then struck out Carlos Ramirez and Dillon Baird, but the Owlz got a run when Bass stole second. The throw from catcher Gorman Erickson hit the mound, allowing Bass to reach second safely and Ramos to score. Michael Wing flied out to end the inning and cut the lead to 4-1.

Webster and Roberts shut down the Owlz the rest of the night.

Bass had two of Orem's five hits. Wise went 3-for-4 for Ogden.

Orem is now 24-5 in the second half of the season and 44-23 overall, while Ogden is 16-13 and 40-27 overall.