Link Report for Games of Wednesday, June 27th

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 7, Albuquerque (Marlins) 3, 11 innings

All the details on the win for the team with the Pacific Coast League's best record in the AM...

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Drew Anderson photo, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=2413

 

Sounds Score Four In 11th To Defeat Isotopes

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ? The Nashville Sounds plated four runs in the top of the eleventh inning to hang a 7-3 defeat on Albuquerque on Wednesday evening at Isotopes Park in the opener of a three-game series.

 

The Nashville win combined with an Iowa loss propelled the Sounds (46-33) back into first place, a half-game ahead of the Cubs in the PCL American Conference Northern Division. The teams have flip-flopped first and second place four times in the last five days.

 

Drew Anderson, who went 3-for-5 to extend his longest hit streak of the year to eight games, led off the Nashville eleventh with a single off Isotopes reliever Harvey Garcia before moving to third on a Brad Nelson double. Tony Gwynn followed with a sacrifice fly to center that allowed Anderson to come with the go-ahead run.

 

Callix Crabbe followed with his third extra-base hit of the evening, a line-drive RBI double down the right field line that plated Nelson with an insurance run for a 5-3 lead. The big inning continued for the Sounds when Laynce Nix slugged a two-out, two-run homer to left off Garcia ? his eighth roundtripper of the year ? to bring the score to its final 7-3.

 

AUDIO: Laynce Nix Two-Run HR --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...206-27.mp3

 

Greg Aquino (2-0) was the beneficiary of the late Nashville rally and recorded his second win of the year after working two innings in scoreless fashion.

 

Garcia (1-1) took his first loss of the year after surrendering four runs on five hits in his lone frame of action.

 

The extra-inning affair was the Sounds? sixth of the season (2-0 at home, 1-3 on the road).

 

Nashville rapped out a season-high 17 hits in recording its seventh last at-bat victory of the year.

 

The Sounds grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Vinny Rottino (3-for-5) led off with a triple to deep center then scored when Mike Rivera followed with an RBI single off Isotopes starter Daniel Barone.

 

Albuquerque evened the score in the home half of the frame when former Sound Andrew Beattie scored on a John Baker RBI single off R.A. Dickey.

 

Nashville pulled ahead again in the fourth when Rottino and Rivera again teamed up for back-to-back hits, this time a Rottino one-out single followed by a run-scoring Rivera double.

 

The Isotopes tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh when Eric Reed dropped a well-executed two-out squeeze bunt to plate Baker from third as Joe Thatcher suffered his first blown save of the year for Nashville.

 

The Sounds gained their third lead of the night in the eighth, this time scoring an unearned run against the Albuquerque bullpen. Joe Dillon extended his longest hitting streak of the year to seven games when he led off with a single against Roy Corcoran. After moving to second on a Beattie error, Dillon later scored on Anderson?s RBI double to left to give Nashville a 3-2 lead.

 

For the second time in two innings, the Nashville bullpen suffered a blown save in the bottom of the eighth. With one out, PCL veteran Scott Seabol drilled a 2-0 Steve Bray offering over the left field wall for his 16th home run of the year to knot the score at 3-3.

 

Crabbe attempted to give the Sounds another lead in the ninth when he ripped a ball to right that eluded a diving Reggie Abercrombie but was thrown out at the plate by a well-executed Isotopes relay from Reed and shortstop Robert Andino as he tried for the inside-the-park homer.

 

Dickey worked his third consecutive quality start for the Sounds since rejoining the rotation but took a no-decision after the bullpen blew a save behind him. The Nashville native allowed two runs on four hits while walking four batters and striking out five over 6 2/3 innings. He retired 15 Isotopes batters in a row from the second to the seventh inning.

 

The teams continue the series with another 8:05 p.m. CT game on Thursday evening. Right-hander Chris Oxspring (6-4, 3.14) will man the bump for Nashville and face Albuquerque southpaw Chris George (5-6, 5.22).

 

Nashville Box Score:

Callix Crabbe slugging .435 as part of his .819 OPS -- his fine, fine season continues...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_albaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_albaaa_1

[Mass Haas]

Helena KCAP Audio Interview with infielder Eric Newton:

Make sure you've selected date of June 27th, go to the 3:30 minute mark...

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1

 

Rain winds up dampening Stars' day

By SKIP VAUGHN

For The Huntsville Times, skip.vaughn@htimes.com

 

The Huntsville Stars and a home crowd of mostly youth campers were having a grand old time Wednesday.

 

The Stars and starting pitcher Steve Hammond were beating the Chattanooga Lookouts 2-1 entering the fourth inning.

 

But then the rain came and spoiled everything.

 

Hammond didn't return after a 97-minute rain delay and Chattanooga wound up beating the Stars 6-3 before an announced 1,796 at Joe Davis Stadium. The summer camp groups, seated throughout the stadium in their colorful T-shirts, had departed by game's end.

 

"I felt good. I just wish I could've kept going," said Hammond, a left-hander who struggled early this season and is 3-7. "My fastball was good today. I felt like I've been making progress lately."

 

He went three innings with four strikeouts and allowed one run, one hit, two walks and threw one wild pitch. The rain delay came right as the Stars took the field to start the fourth.

 

"I stayed ready for about an hour," Hammond said. "After that it was just too long."

 

Stars reliever Jeff Housman (3-2) entered after the delay and struggled in his two innings. He had three strikeouts but allowed five runs and seven hits, including solo homers by Caonabo Cosme and J.C. Boscan.

 

"Housman, for his two innings, just couldn't get anybody out," Stars manager Don Money said. "And that was it."

 

Huntsville (3-7) got a home run from Brendan Katin in the second, an RBI single by Hernan Iribarren in the third and a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Iribarren in the eighth.

 

Katin's 13th homer of the season tied the score 1-all against Lookouts starter Carlos Fisher. After a called strike, he got a belt-high pitch in the middle of the plate and drove it out to left.

 

"He hung me a slider and fortunately I got enough of it," Katin said.

 

Iribarren, who will turn 23 on Friday, put the Stars up 2-1 with his two-out hit in the third. "I was happy because two-out RBIs, they're pretty good," he said.

 

Huntsville has been outscored 26-4 in three straight losses to Chattanooga (8-2) since beating the Lookouts 6-1 on Sunday.

 

Furthermore: Eight members of the Mississippi Braves were selected to the Southern League's South Division All-Star team announced Wednesday. This equals the eight Stars named to the North Division team announced Tuesday for the game scheduled July 9 at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

chronicle.augusta.com/sto...3907.shtml

 

Power prevail in 12th

By Steve Sanders | Augusta Chronicle Staff Writer

 

There are a lot of reasons why the Augusta GreenJackets and the West Virginia Power have been the top two teams in the South Atlantic League this season.

 

One of the biggest is that they don't allow their opponents many extra outs. The GreenJackets and Power entered this week ranked No. 1 and 2 defensively.

 

One might not have believed it if you'd seen Wednesday night's game at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

 

In the longest and sloppiest game of the season, which included 11 errors, West Virginia scored three runs in the 12th inning to outlast Augusta, 7-4.

 

Andrew Lefave went 4-for-6 with four runs scored, including the go-ahead run for the Power.

 

Taylor Green, Kenny Holmberg and Martin Maldonado each drove in the extra-inning runs off Augusta reliever David Newton, who took the loss.

 

The GreenJackets committed a season-high five errors, one fewer than West Virginia, and snapped a streak of 14 consecutive home victories.

 

Augusta (55-22, 5-2) trailed 3-0 and 4-2 but got RBI hits from Brett Pill and Ryan Rohlinger in the eighth to knot it at 4.

 

The Power (51-24, 3-4) snapped a string of 27 scoreless innings with two runs in the fourth to go up 2-0.

 

Two Augusta infield errors in the sixth led to another unearned run charged to Adam Cowart, giving West Virginia a 3-0 lead.

 

The GreenJackets broke up West Virginia starter Brae Wright's shutout bid in the bottom of the sixth. Tyler Graham reached on an error and scored, with Rohlinger picking up the RBI, to make it 3-1.

 

Three consecutive two-out singles in the seventh by Dayton Buller, Marcus Sanders and Mike McBryde made it 3-2.

 

Kenny Holmberg's bases-loaded single off Augusta reliever Buster Lussier moved West Virginia ahead 4-2.

 

The GreenJackets used four hits and two West Virginia errors in the eighth off of reliever Omar Aguilar to tie it, 4-4. Rohlinger and Pill provided the RBI hits.

 

Augusta nearly won it in the bottom of the ninth. Graham singled and tried to score from first on Burriss' double to right-center, but right fielder Chuck Caufield's throw beat him to the plate.

 

Cowart failed again in his bid for the league-leading 10th win. He allowed three runs - one earned - in six innings and left trailing 3-0.

 

Wright, who was lit up in his last start against Augusta, pitched seven solid innings, allowing two runs, but also was denied the win.

 

Augusta Chronicle Photo by Michael Holahan

Augusta's Robert Felmy is tagged out at second base by West Virginia's Brent Brewer on Wednesday.

 

http://i.spotted.augusta.com/user/1/gallery/298648.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.helenair.com/articles...2707_1.txt

 

Osprey double up Helena

By JEFF WINDMUELLER, Helena Independent Record Sports Writer

 

The Helena Brewers were in need of just a little more ninth-inning magic Wednesday night as they dropped a close contest with the Missoula Osprey 4-2 at Kindrick Legion field.

 

With the bases loaded and the winning run on first, Helena?s Matt Cline checked his swing and accidentally hit the ball, sending it right to Missoula?s Chance Wheeless at first base for the final out of the game.

 

The Brewers (4-5) pushed the Osprey (4-5) as much as possible, sliding into the second baseman twice to break up double plays, and after two errors it looked like they could tie it up or possibly win. But, as had been the case all night, they could get the hits but couldn?t seem to score the runs. The Brewers finished with nine hits to the Osprey?s 10.

 

?The end result is we had the tying run on second base when the game was over and the winning on first,? said Brewers manager Jeff Isom. ?We gave ourselves the opportunity but we couldn?t get the runs across early in the game.?

 

But, ?anytime you?ve got the chance to win the game in the ninth inning you?ve got to be happy, I guess.?

 

Helena held a short lead after the first inning when Caleb Gindl cracked his first home run of the season. Gindl, who is erupting early in the season, went 3-for-4 at the plate and remains the team?s batting leader with 16 hits. He accounted for both of Helena?s runs in the game, scoring again in the ninth before the Brewers rally fell short.

 

His solo shot held up until Missoula?s Eli Rumler scored in the third inning off a single to right field by Derrick Walker.

 

It was the lone run given up by Brewers starting pitcher Evan Anundsen. He went four innings and gave up four hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

 

Reliever Curtis Pasma, however, found himself in trouble during the seventh as the Osprey began getting on base. Gerrardo Bustamante started with a hard shot to center field before Houston Summers advanced him on a sacrifice bunt. Victor Estevez was hit by a pitch and Rumler singled to left field to load the bases.

 

Pasma was able to get Pete Clifford out on a pop-up to Zealous Wheeler, but that was enough of a scare to bring in pitcher Brock Kjeldgaard to finish the inning. He loaded the count before Derrick Walker cracked a double on the pay-off pitch, bringing in two runs for the win.

 

?I think (the batters) were a little more patient and selective, getting their pitch instead of swinging at every strike,? said Osprey manager, Damon Mashore.

 

Meanwhile, Missoula?s starting pitcher Bryan Henry was simply wearing down the Brewers batters without wearing himself out. He gave up six hits and struck out three but was able to get the ball in play and get batters out quickly.

 

Mashore kept him in to finish out the seventh and said he simply couldn?t take him out any earlier.

 

?He had 50 pitches through six innings, he?s supposed to get to 75 so I couldn?t really take him out,? Mashore said.

 

Evan Scribner closed, allowing three hits and one run.

 

There was no doubt the Brewers were doing everything they could to try to force the game into extra innings as they were physically aggressive on the diamond.

 

Along with one of the slides into Estevez at second base during the ninth, Jonathan Lucroy also leveled Bustamante at the plate in the fourth inning, hoping to take the lead. His attempt on a blooper by Jordan Swaydan was unsuccessful and counted as the third out.

 

Both teams? managers agreed with the aggressive plays and considered it a well-played game of baseball.

 

Mashore, meanwhile, was impressed with the hit Bustamante took, that threw him back several feet and definitely made him a little hazy.

 

?Any time a catcher has to hang in there on a throw like that, they deserve all the credit in the world, being able to hold onto the ball and take a pounding,? Mashore said. ?They?re all tough.?

 

The two teams will get another chance to face off as the Brewers head to Missoula for a three-game stint.

 

Donovan Hand is expected to start on the mound for Helena and Christian Beltre for Missoula. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (8:05 Central).

 

Helena Independent Record Photo by George Lane

Helena Brewer base runner Jordan Swaydan (10) trips up Missoula second baseman Victor Estevez, breaking up a double-play attempt.

 

http://www.helenair.com/content/articles/2007/06/28/sports_top/b01062707_1.jpg

[MTBrew]

Just have to second the comments about the H-Brewers being aggressive. No cheap shots, just good hard slides and an awareness of the play at hand. The play on which LaCroy was thrown out was a good one. Props to the Ospreys catcher as LuCroy really leveled him. Props also to Isom for sending LuCroy, it took a perfect throw to get him. I like seeing that.

I was also impressed with the plate disipline in the 9th, nobody was trying to be the hero and swinging for the fence. They were tring to get the bat on the ball, get a hit and/or move the runners overs.

Swaydan behind the plate looked like a real pro. He worked with the pichers, hung on to the wild ones, threw out a bunt and made a nice play at the plate. The night before he blocked the palte on a throw at home and got the out as well. Just good heads up baseball.

Good fundamental baseball. Despite the loss it was a very enjoyable game.