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Sky Sox Rout New Orleans 13-5

August 30, 2016 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Colorado Springs Sky Sox News Release


COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - The Colorado Springs Sky Sox opened their final homestand of the 2016 season with a 13-5 win over the New Orleans Zephyrs, sending the Security Service Field crowd of 5,206 home happy on Tuesday night.

After combining for two runs over their final three games in Oklahoma City last weekend, the Sky Sox offense wasted little time in putting runs on the board at home. With one out against Zephyrs starter Dylan Axelrod (9-7, 4.31) in the first, Nate Orf doubled for the first Sky Sox hit. The next batter, Garin Cecchini, singled to right to score Orf with the first Sky Sox run and start the rally for Colorado Springs. Josmil Pino singled, and then Andy Wilkins walked to load the bases for Michael Reed. The Sky Sox center fielder came through in a big way by crushing a grand slam to left, his eighth home run of the season, to increase the Sky Sox lead to five. With Ramon Flores on base and two outs, Sky Sox starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson (2-5, 6.08) helped his own cause with a single to center to score Flores and give the Sky Sox a 6-0 lead after the first inning.

The grand slam from Reed was the Sky Sox ninth grand slam of the season, a new franchise record. The previous record of eight grand slams in a season was set during the 2001 season.

New Orleans answered with three runs in the second to cut the Sky Sox lead in half, but the Sky Sox quickly responded in the third.

With one out, Yadiel Rivera tripled to center. Wilkerson then came to the plate and lined a single to left to score Rivera for his second hit of the night. After a walk and single loaded the bases, Cecchini hit a sharp single to right to score a pair for Colorado Springs. Later in the frame, the Sky Sox again capitalized with the bases loaded. Wilkins crushed a pitch deep to center and missed a grand slam by a couple feet as the ball hit the center field wall for a two run double to give the Sky Sox a 11-3 lead after three innings.

In the first three innings, all nine batters in the Sky Sox lineup recorded at least one hit and one run scored as the Sky Sox jumped out to a big lead early in the game.

After the rough second inning, Wilkerson settled down and was strong on the mound for the rest of his start. Wilkerson retired the final 10 batters he faced to get through five innings with the Sky Sox in front. The Sky Sox righty pitched five innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits while walking two and striking out four to earn his second win with the Sky Sox. At the plate, Wilkerson went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs batted in and a run scored to help his own cause.

Colorado Springs added runs in the fifth and seventh on sacrifice flies from Rivera and Reed to increase the Sky Sox lead to 13-3 after seven. The Zephyrs got a pair of runs back in the eighth, but they wouldn't get any closer.

Sky Sox relievers Stephen Peterson, Ben Rowen, and Brooks Hall combined to pitch the final four innings to finish off the win for Colorado Springs in the opener of their final homestand of the season.

Offensively, 10 different Sky Sox players recorded hits. Reed led the way with five runs batted in while Cecchini added three. Wilkins and Wilkerson each drove in a pair in the victory.

In game two of the rain-shortened three game series on Wednesday night, the Sky Sox will send veteran Hiram Burgos (9-9, 4.35) to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. MDT at Security Service Field.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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