Eugene Emeralds 6, Yakima Bears 5: Last night was the Ems' home opener and season opener at that. The star of the show was first baseman Clark Murphy who put Eugene on the board early with a three run shot in the 1st. The San Diego native who missed nearly all of last season to tend to his family following his brother Conrad's horrific head-on-collision, wasn't done. He would add a solo homer in the sixth to put the Emeralds up 4-1. They managed to make 5-1 in the 7th without Murphy's help as 2012 10th rounder Stephen Carmon walked, stole second, took third on a throwing error and scored on a single by Wonko's favorite Emerald, Eric Charles. Yakima answered with four runs in the top of the 8th to tie it and both teams failed to score in the 9th. Bonus baseball! 31st rounder Matthew Shepherd made his pro debut and sat the Bears down 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the inning, Charles got hit by a pitch and then- I don't even need to tell you what happened, do I? Clark Murphy happened. Again. Walkoff double; ballgame.
Lake Elsinore Storm 8, Bakersfield Blaze 4: The Storm was in control all game, thanks in part to scoring two runs in each of the first two innings. Bakersfield cut it to 4-3 by plating one each inning in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th but Lake Elsinore responded by manufacturing another run in the top of the 5th and piling on three more in the 7th. Wheels were a factor for the Storm as Rico Noel stole his 44th base and Rymer Liriano picked up his 21st. Chris Bisson and Luis Domoromo got in on the act as well, swiping numbers 17 and 7, respectively.
Fort Wayne Tin Caps 0, Bowling Green Hot Rods 1: This was another extra inning affair but unfortunately this batch of our kids wound up on the short end. Fort Wayne's offense mustered five hits, all singles; one each in the 1st, 5th and 6th innings and two in the 7th. The Tin Caps' best chance came in the top of the 9th when Bowling Green reliever Jason McEachern walked the bases loaded. Austin Hubbard was brought in and struck out Duanel Jones to get out of the inning. He picked up the win by pitching a 1-2-3 top of the tenth before Todd Glaesmann tripled in Drew Vettleson for the walkoff.
San Antonio Missions 6, Midland Rock Hounds 2: Midland seemed to have this one in the bag for most of the game as they scored a run in both the 1st and 4th while starter Daniel Straily was perfect through 6 2/3 innings. He lost the perfect game, no hitter and shutout when Jonathan Galvez hit his third home run of the season. Straily then retired his next four batters and manager Steve Scarsone brought in righty Jonathan Ortiz for the 9th. That was a mistake. In the process of getting two outs, Ortiz gave up 5 runs on 3 walks followed by a two out Nathan Freiman double and Ali Solis's 5th HR. All told, the Missions scored 6 runs on 3 hits; these kids seem to be adapting to the Padre way seamlessly. On a side note, Josh Barfield's brother Jeremy went 1-4 for Midland.
Tucson Padres 7, Reno Aces 8: This was the TuPads' ninth loss in a row and at this point there's no use in even going into the details. They got ahead, blew the lead, almost came back in the 9th but fell just short. You're familiar with the narrative by now.
Continue reading for Top Performers and Honorable Mentions...
Top Performers:- Clark Murphy, 1B, Eugene: 4-5, 2B, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI
- Daniel Robertson, CF, Tucson: 3-5, 2B, R, RBI
- Tommy Medica, 1B, Lake Elsinore: 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 R, RBI
- Rymer Liriano, RF, Lake Elsinore: 3-5, 2B, RBI, SB
- Yasmani Grandal, C, Tucson: 1-4, BB, HR, R, 2 RBI
- Michael Wing, SS, Lake Elsinore: 1-2, 2B, 3 RBI
- Nathan Freiman, 1B, San Antonio: 1-4, 2B, R, 3 RBI
- Cory Spangenburg, 2B, Lake Elsinore: 2-5, R, RBI
- Luis Domoromo, LF, Lake Elsinore: 2-4, 2 R, RBI
- Nick Vincent, P, San Antonio: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
- Matthew Wisler, P, Fort Wayne: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
- Matthew Chabot, P, Eugene: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K
- Matthew Shepherd, P, Eugene: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K (W)
- Ryan Quigley, P, Lake Elsinore: 1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K
Honorable Mentions: Tucson's Jedd Gyorko and San Antonio's Jonathan Galvez & Ali Solis homered; Tucson's Miles Mikolas got a strikeout and allowed a hit in 1 scoreless inning and Eugene's Brandon Alger gave up a hit and struck out 3 in 2 scoreless innings. Fort Wayne's Travis Whitmore went 2-3 with a walk and Lake Elsinore's Chris Bisson was 1-2 with a run and an RBI. Eugene's Eric Charles was 2-4 with a run and an RBI.