Trappers drop home opener

April 25, 2004 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Edmonton Trappers News Release


First baseman A.J. Zapp was 2-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI as the Tacoma Rainiers downed the Edmonton Trappers 10-5 Saturday night at TELUS Field in the Trappers final Home Opener. The loss drops Edmonton's record in Home Opener's to 9-15. Ironically Tacoma was also the club's opponent in the first Triple-A game ever played in Edmonton on April 22, 1981. The Trappers won that game 8-1. Tacoma and Edmonton hooked up in the first game ever played at TELUS Field with the Rainiers coming away with an 8-7 win in 11 innings on May 2, 1995. First baseman Valentino Pascucci was 3-for-5 with a solo home run and two runs scored for the Trappers on Saturday night. He has been on a torrid streak lately, going 11-for-15 with five doubles, five home runs, 10 runs scored and 10 RBI in his last three games. Pascucci has homered in three consecutive contests and leads the club with five dingers. Edmonton and Tacoma will continue this four-game series on Sunday afternoon at TELUS Field.

Tacoma opened the scoring with a single run off Trapper starter Wilton Chavez (0-1) in the second inning. Veteran catcher Pat Borders led off the frame with a double down the left field line and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by third baseman Jose Lopez. Mickey Lopez followed with a single to right field, scoring Borders with the first run. Tacoma chased Chavez with a six-run fourth inning. Chavez hit designated hitter Bucky Jacobsen with a pitch to start the inning, then yielded a one-out home run to Jose Lopez that put the Rainiers up by three. Mickey Lopez struck out, but reached first on a wild pitch. He then stole second and scored on a double by shortstop Ramon Santiago. Center fielder Luis Ugueto then singled to right field, plating Santiago with the Rainiers' fifth run. Right fielder Elpidio Guzman added a double to left field that plated Ugueto and Zapp capped the scoring with a double down the right field line that scored Guzman.

Pascucci put the Trappers on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a towering blast over the scoreboard in left field. Catcher Randy Knorr drew a one-out walk off Tacoma starter Bobby Madritsch and moved to second on a wild pitch. With two out left fielder Jeremy Ware and catcher Paul Hoover reached on back-to-back infield singles, scoring Knorr with the Trappers second run of the night. Edmonton plated three runs in the fifth inning to close the gap to two runs. Anthony Medrano drew a one-out walk and moved to third on a double by Pascucci. Ryan Church scored Medrano with a single to right and Knorr followed with a base hit that plated Pascucci with Edmonton's fourth run. Jeremy Ware's sacrifice fly scored Church to cap the scoring in the frame. Tacoma scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning off reliever Roy Corcoran to put the game out of reach. Guzman led off the frame with a triple and scored on a double by Zapp. Third baseman Justin Leone had reached on an infield single after the Guzman triple and also scored on the double by Zapp. A single to center field by Borders that plated Zapp finished off the scoring for Tacoma.

Highlights:

Trappers: Finished with a 9-15 record in Home Openers.began the night with the second highest team batting average in the PCL (.310).had 14 hits on Saturday, increasing the season total to 190, the most in the PCL.have scored 101 runs in the first 17 games of the season.struck out 16 times, one shy of the club record.

1B Valentino Pascucci: Has homered in three consecutive games, going deep five times in that time.is 11-for-15 (.733) with 10 runs scored, five doubles and 10 RBI in those three games.

DH Randy Knorr: RBI single in the fifth inning extended his hitting streak to 11 games, a Trapper season-high.is 19-for-42 (.452) with one home run and 11 RBI during the streak.



Pacific Coast League Stories from April 25, 2004


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