New Hampshire got off to a hot start when Darin Mastroianni led off the season with a home run and before Kyle Drabek reached the mound he had a four run lead. On the other hand Clearwater threw a perfect game against Dunedin for six innings. New Hampshire went on to win while Dunedin were well beaten.
Lansing had four RBI's from Ryan Schimpf and home runs from 2009 draftees Schimpf and Ryan Goins but lost in extra innings. Las Vegas won with a shutout, Brad Mills and the bullpen held Salt Lake to three hits.
Bullpens were generally strong on Thursday, the Fisher Cats got four innings of perfect relief from Luis Perez and Danny Farquhar. The Lugnuts also got four innings of perfect relief from Nestor Molina and Dustin Antolin but they lost the game in the sixth inning of relief. Las Vegas got three innings of shutout relief to cement their win.
Brad Mills was delaing in his first start of the year, he pitched six shutout innings with nine K's, no walks and only two hits allowed. He was ably backed up by the bullpen, Sean Henn, David Purcey and Rommie Lewis each pitched a shutout inning in relief.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh. Jeremy Reed and Jesus Merchan singled to lead off the inning. The newest Jay, Christian Colonel delivered a one-out RBI single to put the 51's ahead, and Jorge Padilla followed with a sac fly.
Las Vegas had eight hits, all singles, three by Merchan.
New Hampshire got off to a hot start scoring four runs in the top of the first. Darin Mastroianni got it started with a lead-off home run. Calix Crabbe signled and scored on a one-out double from Brad Emaus. Eric Thames and Adam Loewen walked around a ground out to load the bases. Brian Jeroloman singled to drive in two runs but got thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Kyle Drabek took the mound for the Fisher-Cats and surrendered half the lead on a two run home run. Drabek then settled down and pitched three hitless innings.
Menawhile the Fisher Cats twice had runners on second and third with no-one out and were unable to score. That opened the door to the Rock Cats to tie the game in the fifth with two singles a wild pitch a ground out and a passed ball. In the top of the sixth Calix Crabbe walked with two outs and stole second. A Rock Cat error moved Crabbe to third and Emaus came through again with an RBI single.
Luis Perez, who will be the fifth starter, pitched three perfect innings with five K's. Danny Farquhar added a perfect ninth for the save.
The Fisher Cats outhit the Rock Cats 11-4. Every starter, other than Loewen, had a hit. Emaus was 3-5 with two RBI's. Jeroloman had two hits and 2 ribbies. Drabek's line was 5 IP, 4H, 2BB, 8K, 3ER.
Clearwater pitchers had a perfect game going six and a third innings. At that point Brad McElroy struck out but reached first on a wild pitch. New Jay Travis D'Arnaud followed with a two run home run to break the drought.
However the Jays were down 8-0 before the home run. Ryan Page got the start for the Jays and gave up five runs. He was followed by Chad Beck who allowed two runs and Boomer Potts who gave up one. Frank Gailey pitched the ninth and gave up two more.
Dunedin finished with three hits, other than the home run Mike McDade had a double and Justin Jackson an infield single. Jackson played second base, Tolisano third and Pastornicky short. It will be interesting to see how those positions change over the next week or two.
Lansing 5 Dayton 6 - 11 innings
Ryan Goins got the first run of the season with a lead-off home run in the second inning. Starting pitcher Ryan Shopshire gave back three runs in the bottom of the second but the Lugnuts halved the gap with a run in the third. Kenny Wilson led off with a double and Ryan Schimpf singled him home. Shopshire gave up three more runs in the fifth which finished his night with the Lugnuts trialing 5-2. But in the sixth Eric Eiland led off with a single, Wilson was hit by a pitch and Schimpf hit a three run home run.
The bullpen kicked in with some stellar relief, Nestor Molina and Dustin Antolin pitched two shutout innings each but Evan Crawford, coming back from missing 2009, gave up the winning run in the eleventh.
Eric Eiland went 3-5 to lead the Lugnuts, Schimpf had two hits and four RBI's, Wilson had a hit, two walks and was hit by a pitch.
Three Stars
3rd star - Ryan Schimpf
2nd star - Brad Mills
1st star - Brad Emaus
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