St. George Downs Maui, 7-5

June 28, 2010 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
St. George RoadRunners News Release


ST. GEORGE - In his RoadRunners debut, Nick Fitzgerald lined an eighth inning RBI double to left-center pushing across the go-ahead run in St. George's 7-5 win over Na Koa Ikaika Maui on Monday night in front of 1,172 fans at Bruce Hurst Field.

Fitzgerald was signed by the club on Monday and made a start at first base. The former Cal State Fullerton Titan went 1-for-4, but his extra-base hit allowed St. George (12-21) to defeat their Valley Isle foes for the first time in eight tries. Na Koa Ikaika maintains a half-game lead over idle Yuma with a 21-11 record.

Golden Baseball League leader in earned run average, Wes Etheridge could do no wrong after his offense spotted him a 4-0 lead. He retired 11 of the first 12 he faced before a disastrous two-out RoadRunners rally took away the momentum.

St. George was kept without a hit until Jermy Acey singled to left and Carlos Sosa followed with a hit to right. A Fitzgerald grounder to short should have ended the frame, but Gered Mochizuki dropped the toss to load the bags. C.J. Lang beat out a throw to first after Maui 3B Michael Higa made an outstanding diving stop for an RBI. With the bases still loaded, David Ramirez blasted a grand slam to left-center to give St. George their first lead at 5-4. The long ball was the first offered by Etheridge this season.

The Strong Warriors squared the meeting in the seventh off Reed Dickert. Fehlandt Lentini was plunked in the helmet, moved to second on Mochizuki's groundout and advance to third on a wild pitch. A slow roller from Keoni Ruth to first scored Lentini for the equalizer.

Back-to-back hits from Acey and Sosa off Kaimi Mead (L, 2-3) brought up Fitzgerald for the fateful hit. Lang added an insurance run with a chopper to short cashing in Sosa.

Monte Mansfield pitched two innings of relief for the win (2-3). Only a dropped pop-up and a Lentini double kept Mansfield from going 1-2-3 in each inning. He struck out four batter for his second win in the last three games.

Na Koa Ikaika outhit the RoadRunners 12-7, but could not capitalize on efforts late against Dickert and Mansfield.

Game two of the series is Tuesday night at 7:05pm. St. George will start LHP Jon Dutton while Maui counters with former RoadRunner David Seccombe.

Live audio coverage will begin at 7pm on ESPN SportsRadio 1210 and online at Network1Sports.com with John Potter.

NOTES: Attendance was 1,172 on Eric Dodge Night - featuring St. George's own country music star... The grand slam from "Torta" is the second on the year for St. George - Jermy Acey cleared the bags with the first granny on June 5 against Tucson... All seven hits for STG came in two innings, the five-run fourth and the two-run seventh.



Golden Baseball League Stories from June 28, 2010


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