St. George Scoring Run Paces Win Over Calgary
July 1, 2009 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
St. George RoadRunners News Release
ST. GEORGE, UTAH -The St. George RoadRunners plated nine unanswered runs from the second through sixth innings and held on late to defeat the Calgary Vipers 9-7 on Tuesday night. With the win, the RoadRunners extend a season-long winning streak to five games and extend the gap between Southern division rivals Orange County and Long Beach.
Eric Van Slyke (3-3) struck out nine batters in six and a third innings to notch his second win against the Vipers this year. The St. George pitching staff totaled 12 punchouts - Julio Castro had one K while closer Bartolome Fortunato earned his seventh save striking out one in the final inning. Erik Dessau (3-1) was saddled the loss, his first, scattering eight runs on nine hits in five and a third innings.
Calgary broke the seal on the scoreboard when Nelson Castro singled and Jorge Mejia lifted an opposite field home run to left. Drew Miller drove in the third Viper run with a single scoring Joe Jiannetti.
The RoadRunners cut the lead to one in the second when Jose Rodriguez lined a single and scored on a two-run blast by Henry Calderon, his second.
STG tied the game an inning later when Ryan Stevenson doubled to left, advanced to third on an error and scored on Ruddy Yan's sacrifice fly.
The home club took their first lead at 4-3 in the fourth. Yosvany Almario singled and stole second. After a ground out moved Almario to third, he scored when Castro erred on a Yan bounder up the middle.
Calderon's third RBI of the night in the bottom of the fifth, a single plating Rodriguez, made the score 5-3.
A four-run sixth inning pushed St. George ahead by six runs. Stevenson walked, Yan singled, Angel Sanchez notched a run with a single, A.J. Valentine also banked an RBI single and Nowlin walked to load the bags. Calderon capped off a huge offensive night with friendly high bouncing two-run base hit for a 9-3 advantage.
Calgary chipped away in the top of the seventh as catcher Rick Guarno doubled and Fehlandt Lentini took Van Slyke deep to make it a 9-5 game.
Miller lined a lead-off hit before Mark Okano boomed Calgary's third dinger of the game to center.
Fortunato allowed a one-out hit to Jiannetti in the ninth before inducing a game-ending double play from Colin Moro.
St. George tallied 12 hits led by Calderon with three. The Vipers had 11 safeties - Castro, Moro and Miller each contributing a pair of hits.
Game two of the series is Wednesday night at 7:05pm MT. Raymar Diaz (2-0) makes his second start against veteran righty Reggie Rivard (3-1).
Tickets can be purchased online at StGeorgeRoadRunners.com or by calling 435-673-5333.
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Golden Baseball League Stories from July 1, 2009
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