Link Report for Mon. 6/21 -- The Helena and Maryvale Rookie Squads Debut Nicely

[Mass Haas]

Brewers win in walk-off fashion

 

Opening Night for the Helena Brewers was nothing short of exciting. The bats were alive and the pitching was solid as the Brewers came from behind to defeat the Missoula Osprey 7-6 on Monday night.

 

Helena's Tyler Cravy went 5.2 innings allowing five runs on six hits. Trouble began in the top of the 2nd when Missoula third baseman Eric Groff led off the inning with a double to left-center field. Bobby Stone and Adonys Canelo followed suit before Roberto Rodriguez homered to right field on a 2-1 pitch to make it 4-0.

 

Helena quickly answered back in the bottom of the inning. Brewers left fielder John Dishon started things off with a walk after a Shea Vucinich ground out. Brent Dean picked up his first professional hit with a single through the hole at second base to score Vucinich. Carlos George then reached on an error by Missoula shortstop Raul Navarro. Franklin Romero made it a two-run game with a double down the left-field line to score Dean.

 

Helena took the lead in the bottom of the third. Mike Walker was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Greg Hopkins then singled to shallow right field. Vucinich followed Hopkins with an RBI single to center. George came through in the clutch with a two-out single to score Hopkins and Vucinich.

 

Cravy (0-0, 7.94) was nearly perfect for the rest of his outing. The only other Osprey run came off an Adonys Canelo solo shot to right field on a 2-0 pitch to make it 5-5. Cravy finished the game with a strikeout and two walks.

 

The score stayed the same until the 7th inning. Missoula's Rodriguez led off the inning with a single. Jae Yun Kim reached on a throwing error by Walker at third base. Walker made a fantastic diving stop to keep the ball in the infield but Cody Hawn wasn't able to scoop an errant throw out at first. Rodriguez would score later in the inning to give Missoula the 6-5 lead. The run was unearned and was charged to Ryan Bernal, who went 1.1 innings, allowing one hit and one strikeout.

 

Helena went into the bottom of the ninth trailing 6-5. Things would change in a hurry. Romero led the inning off with a single up the middle. Hawn reached on a single down the right field line, and was pinch-run for by Reggie Keen. Mike Walker then came up looking for his first professional hit. He would find it at the most opportune time as he ripped a game-winning triple to right field to score Romero and Keen.

 

Game two of the four-game series will begin at 7:05 tomorrow (8:05 Central) with gates opening at 6:00. Helena's Hiram Burgos (0-0, 0.00) is scheduled to get the start for the Brewers. Missoula will send Derek Eitel (0-0, 0.00) to the mound.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Walk(er) off winner

By AMBER KUEHN, Helena Independent Record

 

Heading into the ninth inning Monday, it looked as if the Missoula Osprey were on their way to their first season-opening win since 2002.

 

Helena third baseman Mike Walker had something to say about that.

 

The rookie from Marysville, Calif., took a fastball from Osprey closer Randy Hamrick and drilled a two-run, walkoff triple to the right-centerfield wall at Kindrick Field. The ball was out of reach for right fielder Roberto Rodriguez, and Walker rounded the bases back to a sea of teammates celebrating the Brewers’ 7-6 Pioneer League victory.

 

Not bad for Walker’s first professional hit.

 

“That’s what you dream about playing whiffle ball,” said Walker, who had a pair of strikeouts in his two previous at-bats. He reached base earlier on a four-pitch walk, and was hit by a pitch in the third. “Ever since I was five years old, that’s what I was dreaming about.”

 

Not only did Walker deliver the gamewinner, but his clutch hit made up for his seventh-inning throwing error that put two Missoula runners at the corners. He said he wasn’t nervous coming in with no outs and two runners on after Franklin Romero and Cody Hawn both singled to start the final inning.

 

“You can’t take those clutch at-bats any differently than any other at-bat,” Walker said. “I was just happy I could come through after I struck out a couple of times and made a pretty big error there.”

 

The Brewers got down early, when Missoula led off the second stanza with three straight doubles and a two-run home run by Rodriguez to put the visitors up 4-0.

 

But Helena answered in the bottom half, scoring two runs with a little help from three errors by Missoula. Shea Vucinich’s RBI single an inning later gave the Brewers a brief 5-4 lead.

 

After falling behind again in the seventh, Helena’s first-year manager Joe Ayrault had no doubt his team had another rally left in them. And he wasn’t surprised to see who came up with the game-winning hit, considering the powerful Walker had hit balls out to the wall all last week in practice.

 

“All he’s done since he got here is impressed,” Ayrault said. “When we had our simulated games, the way he swung the bat, even the way he faced lefties, it was one of those things where you knew he was going to come through at some point with a big hit for us.

 

“How hard the guys played, and to win it like that, there’s no better way to win it.”

 

Reliever Brian Garman pitched the final two innings for Helena and recorded the win. He gave up just one hit and didn’t allow any more to cross the plate, and he also struck out one.

 

“I felt like I had nothing to lose,” said the southpaw out of the University of Cincinnati. “For my first professional baseball game, it was really fun to watch the team battle back like that. Joe told everyone this team would be about heart and hustle. More important than being 1-0 is the way we did it. This is a huge momentum swing.”

 

Helena starter Tyler Cravy lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up six hits, five earned runs, walking two and fanning one. Ayrault only had good things to say about the right-hander.

 

“I thought Cravy showed a lot of moxie, giving up four in the second inning and being able to come back and battle for the innings that he did,” the skipper said. “As for Garman, he did exactly what we asked of him to do.”

 

Ryan Bernal also made a brief appearance, making his professional debut in the sixth inning. For Missoula, starter Patrick Schuster gave up seven hits; Hamrick was tagged with the loss.

 

Helena catcher Brent Dean had a solid night behind the plate, picking off two attempted steals at second.

 

“That was clutch for us, too, to get us out of a couple jams,” Ayrault said of Dean’s plays.

 

Missoula third baseman Eric Groff had the web gems though, the most impressive being a diving stop on a hit by Dean, then throwing a bullet to first to get the out in the eighth inning.

 

But in the end, Walker had the heroics.

 

“It’s nice to be able to come back and help the team win,” Walker said. “I’ve always thought, it might as well be me. I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself.”

 

DIAMOND NOTES: Secretary of State Linda McCulloch threw out the ceremonial first pitch Monday night for the second straight year...Osprey first baseman/outfielder Bobby Stone tied Luis Terreo for second place in games played for Missoula, a record owned by Corey Myers (1999-00). Stone is also the all-time home run leader for Missoula with 23...1,029 fans showed up for opening day.

 

All photos by Dylan Brown, Independent Record –

Helena's Greg Hopkins tags out Missoula's Adam Eaton and gets knocked off the bag Monday night at Kindrick Field during the season opener. Helena won 7-6 with a walk-off home run by Mike Walker.

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/0/8b/18a/08b18a6a-7dbb-11df-a8ce-001cc4c002e0-revisions/4c20435e320ce.image.jpg

 

Helena's Franklin Romero hits a grounder Monday, while Jae Yun Kim catches during the season opener at Kindrick Field.

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/5/08/95f/50895f16-7dbb-11df-bfda-001cc4c002e0-revisions/4c2043d73e10a.image.jpg

 

Helena's Greg Hopkins, second right, and Shea Vucinich celebrate with fellow teammates after scoring in the third inning against Missoula at Kindrick Field Monday night.

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/8/62/182/8621829e-7dba-11df-b309-001cc4c002e0-revisions/4c204283b63bd.image.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Nice video report with some game highlights from the Independent Record.

[Mass Haas]

Rattlers give inkling that second half could be different

[pete]

Nice job by the Independent-Record there in Helena - game story, some pics and a video.