Kevin Barker. That’s it. It was his night to shine in what is likely to be his best single-game performance as a professional.

Syracuse 13 @ Ottawa 10 - Box Score

The first game of yesterday’s double-header was a shootout between the SkyChiefs and the Lynx. After 3 innings Syracuse led 4-2 and then after 6 it was 11-5 and it ended 13-10. The first three pitchers for Ottawa, starter Brandon Burres and relievers Nick McCurdy and Franklyn Gracesqui all allowed three earned runs in two innings, although the latter two also allowed an unearned run apiece. The fourth reliever, Andy Mitchell, only allowed two in three innings.

So who scored all of these runs for Syracuse? Well, it started and ended with Kevin Barker, who 6-6 with two home runs, two doubles, seven RBIs, five runs and fourteen total bases. Barker’s six hits set a club record and his five runs tied one. Barker hit a solo homer in the top of the first, before the game was suspended by rain on Wednesday. But the extra night’s sleep did nothing to cool off his bat, as he singled and scored in his first at-bat on Thursday. He smacked a three-run homer in the fourth, laced a three-run double in the sixth, singled and scored in the eighth and then doubled in the ninth. I could continue to drool over Barker’s line, but I’ll let you all do that on your own time. It’s a testament to Barker’s domination of the game that Syracuse scored 13 runs despite five SkyChiefs combining for four hits, as Chad Mottola went hitless in six at-bats, while Luis Figueroa, Rob Cosby, Mike Mahoney and Sergio Santos had one each. Ryan Roberts, John-Ford Griffin and Jason Phillips each had two hits, as Phillips played a distant second fiddle to Barker with a walk, a two-run homer and 3 RBIs.

Dustin McGowan pitched 1.1 innings and allowed a hit and a walk, but didn’t continue pitching on Thursday obviously. Brandon League came in for 2.2 and allowed five hits and three runs. Vinny Chulk pitched up the win with 2 innings of relief as he tries to make it back to the big club. His performance yesterday won’t help his case, as he allowed two runs on three hits and a walk, while striking out two. One of the hits he allowed was a solo homer to former Jay Howie Clark. Adrian Burnside was the one who decided to turn what was looking to be a Syracuse blowout into a tight baseball game with an outing to forget, with five hits and five runs in 0.2 innings. Dependable Ben Weber pitched 1.1 scoreless frames, while Brian Tallet struck out two in the bottom of the ninth for his third save. Eddy Garabito had four hits for Ottawa, while Brandon Marsters hit a 3-run homer off Burnside.

Syracuse 0 @ Ottawa 2 - Box Score

In the second game of the doubleheader, each starter pitched a complete-game, as minor-league doubleheaders are only seven innings each. Hayden Penn pitched a 7-inning shutout, outdueling David Purcey, who threw six strong innings. Penn allowed five hits and a walk and struck out seven, to lower his ERA to 1.48. Jason Phillips had one-third of the six hits. Ryan Roberts added a double for the SkyChiefs only extra-base hit, as the team never really threatened Penn. Roberts doubled in the first, but Penn retired Kevin Barker and Chad Mottola to end any threat. In the second John Hattig walked and Sergio Santos singled him to third with two out, but Rob Cosby struck out to end the inning and the team didn’t get a runner to second until the seventh inning, when Phillips arrived with one out, but Penn ended the game with an exclamation mark, striking out both Santos and Cosby.

Purcey pitched six innings, allowing six hits, four walks and two runs. The first round scored as catcher Eli Whiteside reached base on a fielder’s choice, went to second on a Brooks Badeaux walk and then scored on a single by speedy Esix Snead. The second run scored on an Alejandro Freire homer to lead off the fifth. Purcey still looked to bit pitching well in the sixth inning, as it was a 1-2-3 inning, but he took a hard-luck loss to fall to 2-4.

New Britain 4 @ New Hampshire 1 - Box Score

The Fisher Cats were swept by New Britain, as they were the victims of Matt Garza’s fantastic Double-A debut. Garza came within one of New Britain’s franchise record with 13 strikeouts over 7.2 innings. The Twins’ first round draft pick in last year’s draft only surrendered two walks and a single to Miguel Negron to lead off the game. Garza retired 19 batters in a row after a walk to Vito Chiaravalloti in the second. Garza was absolutely dominant. FisherCatFan commented in yesterday’s minor league thread on Garza’s debut. “What really made this kid look special was his composure, competitive nature and especially his off-speed stuff. He threw mostly 89-92, but his off-speed stuff ranged from 73-83…Garza was in complete control and looked spectacular!” Garza was lifted in the 8th following a walk to Erik Kratz and Julio DePaula relieved him and retired Eric Arnold. DePaula allowed a run in the 9th on an RBI groundout to Manny Mayorson, which scored Brad Hassey. Offensively, Miguel Negron was the best Fisher Cat, as he doubled in the ninth to give him two of the three hits New Hampshire had all game.

New Britain scored their four runs in the middle innings, sandwiching a 2-run 4th inning with single runs in the 3rd and 5th. This was the day of first-round picks for the Rock Cats, as 2002 first-round pick Denard Span led off the third with a single and scored on Scott Whitrock’s double. Span then added an RBI single in the fourth to score Trent Oeltjen, which followed a Jose Leger sacrifice fly. The Twins’ first-rounder in 2003, Matt Moses, led off the fifth inning with a solo homer off New Hampshire starter Kurt Isenberg. Isenberg surrendered 11 hits over six hits and allowed all four New Britain runs to fall to 1-5 on the season. Rodney Ormond pitched a frame of scoreless relief, while Jordan De Jong added two, to lower his ERA to 0.57.

If you haven’t already, check out FisherCatFan’s gallery of the game, which includes a ton of shots of Garza, and several shots of both Isenberg and De John pitching.

Dunedin 2 @ St. Lucie 5 - Box Score

Division leading St. Lucie beat Dunedin last night with one big inning, as they scored all five of their runs off Orlando Trias in the fourth inning. Trias gave up three runs and had retired two when he gave up a double to Jamar Bell and a homer to Jonathan Malo. That homer gave St. Lucie some breathing room that allowed them to operate with relative comfort for the rest of the game. Dunedin loaded the bases with none out in the 7th inning, but Ron Davenport grounded into a 1-2-3 double play before Eric Nielson flew out to end the inning. Chris Gutierrez got on base in the ninth, but with the tying run still on the on-deck circle, St. Lucie was never in any serious trouble after Nielson’s fly ball.

Dunedin didn’t manage an extra-base hit the entire day, as the players who got on-base more than once were Ryan Patterson who had three singles in five at-bats, Davenport who had two in four and John Schneider, who walked twice. Dunedin’s offence was hurt by 0-fer performances from the 4-5-6 hitters: Nielson, Dustin Majewski and Ryan Klosterman. Orlando Trias surrendered all five runs in his four innings of work. T.J. Gornati and Justin James each pitched two innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts a piece.

Lansing 1 @ Burlington 2 - Box Score

Burlington defeated Lansing in a 12-inning pitcher’s duel. Russell Savickas started for the Lugnuts and went six strong innings, surrendering six hits and four walks. He scattered the baserunners, struck out seven and only allowed one run. Po-Hsuan Keng pitched a scoreless frame in the seventh and then Yesson Berroa pitched three innings of relief with three strikeouts. Joey McLaughlin got through the 11th, but lost the game in the 12th when he gave up his first run of the season. The 12th was quite exciting as McLaughlin surrendered a leadoff single and then Jeremy Jirschele pinch-ran. McLaughlin got two outs on a strikeout and a fly out and it looked like the game might be headed for the 13th. However, Jirschele stole second, but could only advance to third on an infield single to second baseman Sean Shoffit. A walk loaded the bases and then Valentino Arce won the game with an RBI single to left field. Interestingly, the Lugnuts caught Josh Johnson stealing home in the 5th on a double steal as shortstop Jesus Gonzalez quickly returned Brian Bormarster’s throw to nail Johnson at home.

Burlington starter Chris Nicoll gave up a run on three hits over 5.2 innings, with seven strikeouts. Kraig Shambough pitched 2.1 innings with no hits. He was relieved by Gilbert De La Vara who pitched four perfect innings with three strikeouts. The trio allowed three hits combined over 12 innings, two of them to Anthony Hatch and the other an RBI single to Cory Patton.

3 star selection

3rd star – Jason Phillips, 4-7, R, HR, 3 RBI, BB, 7 TB

2nd star – Russell Savickas, 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K

1st star – Kevin Barker, 6-9, 5 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 14 TB

(Game 1: 6-6, 5 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 14 TB)