After opening the season with six straight games on the road in the division, the Lumberjacks welcomed the home faithful to "The Trail" on Wednesday night for the home opener against Hawaii. A near capacity crowd of 49,950 fans showed up with high hopes, high enthusiasm, and the excitement for seeing this newly built squad they hope can be more competitive than the previous versions. The red, white, and blue bunting was visible all throughout the stadium as the organization treated the night as if it was game 1 of the season. The players were introduced, the National Anthem sang, the first pitch thrown out and baseball in Portland was underway.
The club was riding a 2-game winning streak heading into the contest and fans were in for a good, yet disappointing game. Hawaii scored solo runs in the 1st, 4th, and 8th innings and appeared en route to an easy victory. The home fans got their first glimpse of Juan Marroquin who was sharp, going 6.1 innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 8. But the bats were silent and the Lumberjacks entered the home half of the 9th inning trailing 3-0. But Portland gave the fans something to cheer for.
Daniel Frampton led the inning off with a double. A Greg Squires double with one out made it a 3-1 ball game and suddenly brought the tying run to the dish. When Allan Uecker doubled on the next pitch, the home fans were in full throat as the game was 3-2 and the tying run was at 2B and the winning run at the plate with just one out. But then, something inexplainable happened. Bill Morely sent a fly ball to deep left field that was caught on the warning track. Uecker, for some reason, tried to tag up and advance to 3B and was tagged out to end the game. The Lumberjacks lost 3-2.
"I think this team is going to give us these types of moments" said one fan after the game. "They've got enough youth and veteran leadership to never be counted out. I'm not sure about that decision in the 9th to tag up there, but hey, they were being aggressive. I think we're going to love the fight in this bunch. They'll bounce back"
And bounce back they did. The Lumberjacks returned the 3-2 favor the next night and did so in come from behind fashion. Trailing 2-1 in the 6th, a fielders choice tied it and then a Bill Morley triple gave the Lumberjacks the lead for good. In the finale, Gaajlimitz and Morely combined for 5 of the 7 hits for the Lumberjacks who won the game 3-0. More on that game to come....
