When the first two or three options for a Saturday night don’t work out there’s always minor league baseball.

I’m not talking about teams with players ranging in age from 8 to 11 years old — but minor league professional baseball.

Because my brother and nephew did not have anything better to do they tagged along with me as well.

The first option was the Salt Lake Bees, but checking the Bees’ Web site showed that the top farm club team for Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was playing in Fresno, Calif. on Saturday. If a game doesn’t pan out, the view of the Wasatch Mountains from Spring Mobile Ballpark in Salt Lake City is always spectacular.

The Ogden Raptors have been around for a long time and that was a possibility, but I’d already seen their stadium. So I checked the Orem Owlz Web site. I had never attended a game at Brent Brown Ballpark which is also the home of the Utah Valley University baseball team and the site of several high school playoff games and state championship games. The stadium has a capacity of 5,700.

The Owlz and Raptors compete in the Pioneer League which is a rookie league — about the fourth or fifth level down from Major League Baseball. Team nicknames can be peculiar like Owlz and Chuckars. Also in the league are the Missoula Osprey, Great Falls Voyagers and my favorite name the Casper Ghosts. One needs to know cartoon history to understand that one.

Saturday night was the first official game of the year at Brent Brown Ball Park after Friday’s scheduled home opener was rained out. Official attendance was 2,251 so there were plenty of good seats available for the whooping price of $4 each; programs cost $1. I think a fan could see a whole season of Owlz games for one Utah Jazz ticket and perhaps a Jazz ticket still would be the best deal.

It was a fun night though.

A three-member band consisting of a drummer (with bass, snare and one cymbal), guitar player and a lead singer who also played a metal garbage can which sometimes he pounded against the concrete or against his head, greeted fans as they filed through the turnstiles. This trio played extremely hard and fast and were somewhat entertaining. I actually became a little intrigued by their style.

The Owlz have a pair of mascots called Holly and Hootz. And there is another cheerleading-promotion-pitch-man running around the stadium in a wooden barrel. He orchestrates various types of competitions between fans for various prizes between innings. A few of the fans pay attention to the guy, but most fans try to ignore him. Kids in attendance seem to have the most fun by rolling down a grass hill all night long along the third-base line.

And then there’s the baseball, which is good, a cut above college ball I suppose. Perhaps a few future Major Leaguers out there.

On Saturday, Idaho Falls led 6-0 going into the bottom of the fourth in what appeared would be a lackluster game for the Owlz. But the Owlz rallied behind a few Owl calls from the fans. Orem scored two runs in the fourth, two in the sixth, two in the seventh to trail 7-6 after seven complete innings.

The score held up until the bottom of the ninth and excitement mounted as the lead-off hitter singled in the ninth. Runners advanced to second and third, but there were two outs and two strikes on Orem designated hitter Justin Bass as he stood at the plate. Bass came through with a shot to the left-center field gap. I had seen Idaho Falls fielders chase down hard hit fly balls all night, but this one was perfectly placed out of reach of the defense. The two runners sprinted home for an 8-7 Owlz victory and Orem players mobbed Bass out on the field after his game-winning heroics.

Perhaps I had just witnessed one of the more exciting Owlz games of the season.

I really want to check out a couple of Bees game this year. But a rivalry game between Ogden and Orem in the Pioneer League might be just as much fun.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com