An unspectacular String Training, probably due to the players more or less knowing where they were going, left Louisville without many wins but worse of all after 2035’s relatively injury-free year they left camp with Ace pitcher Kevin Morales on the shelf for five weeks along with centrefielder William Gelinas set to miss a week or two. 2033 third round draft pick, Abay Omoruyi, started in Gelinas’ spot and had probably done enough in ST to claim it anyway.
Debesa scored the Sluggers first ever run at KTP stadium as Hopkins ground into a double play
I suppose you shouldn’t expect any better if you open your new home on April Fools Day but the debut of the Kentucky Truck Plant Stadium was an unmitigated disaster. It marked the start of a three-game set against Jacksonville and 44,837 turned up to witness the horror show that began in the third innings. The score was 1-1 already and by the time Pepe Jaramillo got out of the top of the 3rd he had faced 13 batters, allowed eight hits (including four doubles) and seen catcher Shag Hopkins tagged for two throwing errors as the Hurricanes platted 10 runs. Jacksonville’s 12th run in the fourth innings knocked out Jaramillo, the Sluggers Ace in the absence of the injured Morales, after he had allowed 13 hits, 12 runs (11 earned which was to become 13 runs (12 earned) once the bullpen finished the innings) while surrendering two walks and only striking out four batters in 3.1 innings of work on Opening Day. To be fair though he had only allowed one home run in a park which had been built to induce more homers than Waterfront Park had.
The Sluggers staged a mini revival in the bottom of the fourth, having the crowd on their feet, as Pedro Debesa, Gabriel Talamante and Shag Hopkins went deep Back-to-Back-to-Back to close the score to 12-4 but that was as good as it got. The ground was like a ghost town when Pedro Saldana added their fourth homer in the bottom of the eighth, it was the fifth Sluggers run but Jacksonville had run (sic) their score to 21. The Hurricanes still had time to add the 22nd in the top of the ninth and finally outhit Louisville 24-11. The stage had been set for the way the 2036 season would go.