The Blue Jays were facing an organisational whitewash yesterday, but David Smith of Charleston became both the home town hero, and the organisational saviour of the day, with a walk off three run home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to produce the lone Blue Jay win on the first Sunday of the season.
Syracuse 0 Rochester 1
This was a pitchers duel. Entering the bottom of the ninth inning the game was scoreless and there had been a total of five hits by both teams combined. Syracuse pitchers had retired 23 Red Wings in a row. Mike Smith entered to hold Rochester at bay, but a lead off single, an error on a pick off by Smith, and another single ended the game. Chris Baker had a superb start, allowing 2 hits and no walks over his 6 innings. He also had eight strikeouts. Baker credited Greg Zaun with calling a good game in his first Syracuse start. Mark Lukasiewicz pitched a perfect seventh and eight innings.
Syracuse had three hits on the day. Alexis Rios broke out with two hits including a double. Syracuse are now 0-4 to start the season and are in Ottawa today. Can Bruce Chen get them their first win? Look for some reports from Bauxites later today.
New Hampshire 1 New Britain 4
New Hampshire finally lost. Derek Lee got the start and surrendered a run in the first inning. Lee pitched into the sixth when he left after a lead off single. Mississauga's John Ogiltree entered in relief and allowed a double and a home run to put New Britain ahead 4-0. On the day New Hampshire out hit New Britain 11-9 and had the bases loaded with no one out in the seventh, but Singelton, Rich and Hill were unable to generate a run.
Robert Cosby had a double to lead off the eight and scored on a couple of groundouts. Cosby was the leading hitter on the day going 3-4. Paul Chiaffredo and Jose Umbria had two hits each. Brandon League pitched the ninth allowing one hit.
Dunedin 3 Clearwater 9
Dunedin also suffered their first loss of the season. Kurt Isenberg, coming off a big rookie season, was lit up in his first start, following the example of David Bush and Josh Banks. Clearwater scored four runs in the second inning and two more in the third, ending Isenberg's day after 2.2 innings. Chad Pleiness and Santo Valdez followed Isenberg and allowed three more runs to score.
Dunedin tallied seven hits on the day. Scott Dragicevich was the only hitter with more than one hit, he had two. Dunedin made four errors on the day but only two of Clearwater's nine runs were unearned.
Delmarva 3 Charleston 6 in 12 innings
With all the afternoon games in the books the Blue Jays organisation was 0-4. Charleston were the last hope for a win. Tom Mastny got the start and allowed a run in the first inning. Mastny was very efficient thereafter and his day ended after four innings. Mastny line was 4 IP, 1 run, 3 hits, one walk and 4 K's.
Joaquin Canizal started the fifth and allowed another Delmarva run on a double and a triple. In the bottom of the seventh Christian Snavely hit his first home run of the year, a two run shot, to tie the game. The Delmarva pitcher then walked a couple and Ryan Roberts followed with a hit to give Charleston a 3-2 lead. Delmarva tied the game in the top of the eight and we were headed to extra innings.
In the bottom of the twelfth Ryan Roberts and Clint Johnston walked, setting the table for David Smith to hit a three run home run to the delight of the home town fans. Smith is from Charleston and lives at home during the season. The home run broke an 0-12 start to the season. Smith had been pressing at the plate. Brad Esaray got the win.
There are no other articles of interest. Sunday writing for Monday publication appears to be limited to game reports.
Three Star Selection
Our third star: Ryan Roberts, There were four candidates for the third star, Ryan Roberts, Tom Mastny, Mark Lukasiewicz, and Rob Cosby. The star goes to Roberts who had two hits, a walk, an RBI and he scored the winning run.
Our second star: Chris Baker, Baker produced an excellent start. Six innings, two hits, no runs and eight strikeouts.
Our first star: David Smith, A walk off home run in extra innings gets the crowd excited and Da Box!
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