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Scorpions cling to playoff hopes

August 20, 2007 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
Yuma Scorpions News Release


Extra-inning win over Long Beach leaves Yuma 4 games back with 7 to play

Long Beach, Calif. - There is still life in the Yuma Scorpions. After allowing the Long Beach Armada to tie Sunday's game in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Scorpions scored five runs in the 11th inning to hold on for an 8-4 win.

Yuma still sits four games in back of first-place Armada (46-23, 23-8) with only seven games left to play.

In the top of the 11th, Maikel Jova drove in Charles Merricks and Henry Calderon on a two-run single with the bases loaded to give Yuma a 5-3 lead it wouldn't relinquish.

Yosvany Almario knocked in A.J. Valentine on a sacrifice fly and then Jose Rodriguez's two-run home run over the left-field wall gave the Scorpions (40-29, 19-12) an 8-3 lead, enough for Neil Hayes (4-1) to get his fourth win of the season.

Four of the five runs in the 11th inning were off Long Beach closer Dane De La Rosa (2-2), giving the tall right-hander his second loss of the season.

Hayes came into the game in the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead, but Jon Kaplan scored from third base on a double steal, and then Chris Klemm tied the game after Hector Bernal's two-base error allowed him to score from second base.

The left-hander from Eunice, N.M., struck out four, allowed two runs, one earned while throwing 92 pitches out of the bullpen.

Yuma had taken the lead earlier in the inning on Calderon's two-run home run, which gave the road team a 3-1 lead before Long Beach's comeback.

Starting pitchers Jorge Perez and Jeff Heaverlo battled back and forth, each going into the eighth inning. Perez struck out 10 in his second start for the Scorpions. In one stretch he struck out seven of nine batters, including five straight.

Yuma will be in St. George tonight (6:05 p.m.) for the start of a four-game series with the Roadrunners.

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