PL Idaho Falls Chukars

4-0 Loss Ends Chukars Playoff Hopes

Published on September 2, 2012 under Pioneer League (PL)
Idaho Falls Chukars News Release


The Idaho Falls Chukars entered Sunday night's game with their playoff hopes on life support, but the Greybirds postseason aspirations officially flat lined with a 4-0 shutout to the Grand Junction Rockies in front of a massive crowd at Suplizio Field.

After scoring 12 runs in each of the last two night's wins, the Chukars offense stalled out Sunday with only three hits and five total base runners against the Rockies pitching staff. Grand Junction starter Ryan Warner looked like a completely pitcher then the one who was roughed up in his last start in Idaho Falls. The 18-year-old Colorado native led the way for the Rox in four shutout innings with just one hit, no walks and five strikeouts.

The Rockies bullpen followed suit starting in the fifth, as reliever Alving Mejias tossed three shutout innings on just one hit, one walk and one strikeout. Raul Fernandez and Scott Oberg each followed with one shutout inning apiece to complete the shutout. Mejias (7-6) earned the win for his efforts.

On the wrong end of the shutout was Chukars starting pitcher Sam Selman. The Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year had his best outing in his last three starts, holding the Rockies to just one run on four hits with five strikeouts over five innings pitched. Selman took the loss, but still finished his Chukars career with a 5-4 record and a Pioneer League best 2.09 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 60.1 innings this season.

The lone Rockies run off of Selman came on a double from right fielder Julian Yan and an RBI groundout by first baseman Correlle Prime. Grand Junction would pull away in the seventh with three runs off of Greybirds reliever Spencer Patton. The normally shutout "General" allowed a 2-out RBI double to left fielder Carl Thomore before yielding a two-run home run to DH Chris Cowell.

With the loss the Chukars (16-18) fall five games back of the Ogden Raptors and are eliminated from the playoff run with only four games left in the season. The Rockies (19-15) meanwhile saw their magic number for clinching a playoff birth drop to just one. Any combination of an Ogden win or an Orem loss over the final four games will seal the deal for the Rox.

The two clubs still have two more games left in the four-game series however, with game three scheduled for 7:05 pm Monday night.

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