The Ottawa Titans pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the 10th inning and walked off with a wild 8-7 win over the visiting New York Boulders on Sunday afternoon at Ottawa Stadium in the capitol city of Canada.

Knotted at 6-6 after nine innings, the Boulders capitalized on their opportunity in the top of the 10th inning. As Giovanni Garbella was struck out by Ottawa closer Kevin Escorcia, Austin Dennis, the runner placed at second to start the frame as per the international tiebreaker, stole third.

Dennis then scored when Gian Martellini’s bloop to center found the grass between a trio of Titans’ defenders and put New York ahead 7-6.

Ottawa answered, though, in their half of the 10th when Jake Sanford’s single plated designated runner A.J. Wright to knot the game at 7-7. After Boulders’ reliever Zach Schneider induced a double play grounder from Tyrus Greene, the Titans stayed alive with a single up the middle by Taylor Wright.

Brendon Dadson followed with a groundball single up the middle that was over-run by New York centerfielder David Vinsky allowing Wright to score all the way from first base with the winning run.

How the teams got to extra innings is quite the story.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Titans were down to their final out against Schneider, but rallied, helped by successive hit by pitches to Jason DiCochea and Jackie Urbaez before Rodrigo Orozco lined a 1-2 pitch into left field for a single that scored DiCochea with run that evened the game at 6-6 and sent the game into extra innings.

Prior to that, trailing 5-3 in the eighth with two outs and no one on, the Boulders mounted a rally against Ottawa reliever Gavin Sonnier.

Martellini and Gabriel Garcia hit successive singles before Francisco Del Valle lined his third hit of the afternoon, a double to right that scored both runners to knot the game at 5-5.

After New York reliever Ryan Munoz retired the Titans in order in the bottom of the eighth, New York’s Max Smith greeted Ottawa reliever Nelson Gonzalez with a home run to rightfield to put the Boulders ahead 6-5. The home run was Smith’s fourth of the year.

Ottawa had grabbed a 4-3 lead on a three-run home run by DiCochea, his second of the year, in the bottom of the fifth off Boulders’ starter Josh Loeschorn.

Taylor Wright drew a walk to lead off the fifth and was forced at second on a grounder to first by Brendon Dadson. A single by Will Zimmerman placed runners on first and second for DiCochea, who homered to left field – his first dinger since opening day.

In the seventh, Ottawa tacked on another run when Will Zimmerman led off against New York reliever Austin Kaplan, the Boulders’ second pitcher of the day, and was hit by a pitch. DiCochea then lashed a double to left-center to plate Zimmerman with the tally that increased the Titans’ advantage to 5-3.

The RBI was DiCochea’s fourth of the afternoon.

New York had built a 3-0 lead through 3 ½ innings.

In the second, a Chris Kwitzer run-scoring single plated Gabriel Garcia, who had singled earlier in the inning; then, in the third, Jake MacKenzie led off with a double to right, MacKenzie ending up on third base when Ottawa rightfielder Jake Sanford threw wildly back to the infield and scored on a groundout by Austin Dennis.

It became 3-0 in the fourth. Del Valle doubled immediately before Titans’ shortstop Taylor Wright threw Alphonso Reda’s grounder high and past Dadson at first base, allowing Del Valle to score.

Ottawa got one run back in the fourth when A.J. Wright’s triple was followed by an RBI groundout by Sanford.

Ottawa got a strong start from Evan Grills, who went seven innings and surrendered three runs on eight hits while striking out eight and not walking a batter before yielding to Sonnier to start the eighth.

Meanwhile, Loeschorn went the first five innings for New York and allowed four runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out five before being relieved by Kaplan in the sixth.

Schneider took the loss for New York, falling to 0-2 on the year; while Escorcia picked up the win in his first decision of the season.

Information regarding season tickets and packages for the Boulders’ 2022 season are available by calling 845-364-0009 or sliding to www.NYBoulders.com.