Sox Win Marathon Match-Up With Rockies
July 22, 2004 - Pioneer League (PL)
Great Falls Voyagers News Release
Casper, WY - Very early this morning the Great Falls White Sox beat the Casper Rockies 12-11 in 13 innings at Mike Lansing Field in Casper. The time of the game was a lengthy five hours. Erick Everly (1-0) picked up the win for Great Falls in relief as he went 2.1 innings allowing only one hit and three strikeouts. The loss went to Jeff Newman (0-1) for the Rockies, and John Hurd picked up his first save throwing only one pitch.
The Great Falls White Sox started off the scoring in the first inning off starter Franklin Morales of the Rockies. Boomer Berry scored when the Rockies forgot to cover home plate during Ryan McCarthy's at bat. Berry realized that catcher Ryan Fox walked to the pitchers mound without calling for time and darted for home. Two batters later, Tom Collaro singled home McCarthy. Later in the inning, Scott Martin added a two out, two run home run to put the Sox up 4-0.
Casper fought back in the bottom of the first inning. Seth Smith hit a grand slam with no outs, then two batters later Justin Nelson would homer off Boone Logan to put Casper up 5-4 after one inning.
In the second Great Falls would re-take the lead. Jhonny Rivera had an RBI triple, followed by Boomer Berry's RBI single, and later on an RBI groundout by Tom Collaro. Casper also added a second inning run on a bases loaded walk making the score 7-6 Great Falls through two innings.
The score would remain the same until the sixth inning. Boomer Berry hit a solo home run off reliever David Patten putting the Sox ahead 8-6. The Rockies again cut the lead to one when Matt Zaleski issued the second bases loaded walk of the night.
Casper would then take the lead for the second time in the bottom of the eighth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs Jeff Little entered for the Sox. He was able to get Kyle Wilson to hit a ground ball, which Derrick McNeil would throw away from first baseman Chris Kelly. Two runs would score on the play. The next batter, Fernando Veracierto, singled home another run and Casper was up 10-8 headed to the ninth inning.
In the top half of the ninth inning the Sox had two on and no outs for Chris Kelly. Kelly would single home both Boomer Berry and Ryan McCarthy to tie the game off of Rockies pitcher George Delgado, and we went to extra innings tied at 10.
In the top of the tenth inning, Jhonny Rivera hit a solo home run with one out putting Great Falls up by the score of 11-10. However, in the bottom of the tenth the Rockies were able to get a pinch-hit RBI single by Mike Davies off Jeff Little to tie the game once more 11-11.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, the Rockies had the bases loaded and two outs. Eric Everly would strike out Ryan Fox to send the game to the 12th inning. In the 12th, the Sox had Scott Martin at third and two men out. Martin would attempt to steal home plate. It would cause a collision at home, and catcher Ramon Rodriguez held the ball for the third out. In the bottom of the inning, the Rockies again had runners on second and third with two outs, and again Everly would strike out a batter to leave the runners stranded on base.
In the 13th inning, Great Falls had a one out single by Berry. He would steal second base, sliding around the tag by Veracierto, with two outs. Daron Roberts would then single in Berry and the Sox lead 12-11. In the bottom of the 13th Everly would walk Dustin Hahn putting the winning run at the plate and one out for Casper. After Roberts would make an outstanding catch in foul territory down the left field line, John Hurd would enter the game. His first pitch was able to get Rodriguez to hit a groundball to McNeil, which would end the game. The Sox won 12-11 in 13 innings.
The Sox used nine pitchers, and a total of 20 players during the coarse of the game. Boomer Berry lead the way going 5 for 7, a home run, 5 runs scored, and 2 RBI. He also increased his hit streak to 7 games.
Tonight the Sox and Rockies will play the second game of the four game series. The starters for tomorrow night's game night are: Sony Suarez (RHP) for Great Falls and Sam Deduno (RHP) for Casper. Game time is at 7:05pm and can be heard on 560AM-KMON starting at 6:45.
• Discuss this story on the Pioneer League message board...
Pioneer League Stories from July 22, 2004
- Sox Win Marathon Match-Up With Rockies - Great Falls Voyagers
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.
