Honolulu, Hawaii-
Hawaii 4 Valencia 2- Wednesday, April 8, 2065
WP- Leland ‘Griz’ Rogers (1-1)
LP- Angelo Rodriguez (0-1)
Save- Utkan Gocek (1)
Time: 3:23
Attendance- 49,976 at ‘Iolani Palace
The Hawaii Tropics win their home opener against the Valencia Stars with solid pitching. Leland Rogers made his 2nd start of the season tossing five scoreless innings allowing two hits, walking three and fanning five batters. He improves to 1-1 with a 2.89 ERA. Gheorghe Sollomovici followed with two clean innings and a K then the Trops had a hiccup by Jacinto Gallegos in the 8th. He coughed up a two-run homer that cut Hawaii’s lead to 4-2. Ray Harrison put his team back on track with 1.1 scoreless innings issuing a walk with a K then Utkan Gocek picked up his 1st save of the season with a one-pitch, one-out save.
Jorge Dodd was 1 for 4 with a two-run double (2) in the 3rd inning. Vicente ‘Yogi’ Martinez was 1 for 4 with a stolen base (2), an RBI and scored a run.
Hawaii 7 Valencia 4- Thursday, April 9, 2065
WP- Harry Spurlock (1-1)
LP- Shiro ‘Crazylegs’ Takahashi (0-2)
Save- Utkan Gocek (2)
Time: 3:21
Attendance- 31,596 at ‘Iolani Palace
Hawaii starter Harry Spurlock gave up four runs in six innings, but his outfield defense threw out three baserunners to keep the game from getting out of hand. Eric Owens threw out a runner at third from left field and Antonio Gonzalez gunned down two runners at second base.
Spurlock threw 94 pitches and gave up 8 hits, walked 3 and struck out 5 as he improves to 1-1 with a blinding 6.57 ERA. Ricardo Sanchez picthed a scoreless innings followed by a scoreless inning by Gheorghe Sollomovici then another one out save by Utkan Gocek.
Carlos Schumann was 2 for 3 with a walk, double (1), two RBI and scored a run. Carlos Sanchez was 1 for 4 with two ribbies. Vicente ‘Yogi’ Martinez was 2 for 4 with a triple (2), an RBI and scored twice. Harry Surface was 1 for 5 with a solo homer (1) in the 3rd inning.
Hawaii 6 Valencia 5- Friday, April 10, 2065
WP- Ricardo Sanchez (1-0) BS (1)
LP- Juan Guzman (0-1)
Save- None
Time: 3:27
Attendance- 46,394 at ‘Iolani Palace
The Trops bullpen nearly ruined a stellar performance by Mahad ‘Furball’ Einan but their star hitter Vicente Martinez bailed them out with a walk off single.
‘Furball’ had tossed 6.2 scoreless innings while allowing just 3 hits with a walk and fanned 6 batters. He was pulled in favor of Cale Cote gave up a run before escaping in the 7th. Alex Garcia allowed two runs in the 8th without getting an out then Ray Harrison finished the innings but gave up another run. Ricardo Sanchez gave up the game tying run in the top of the 9th on two hits and a walk.
Martinez was 3 for 5 with two RBI, stole a base (3) and scores a run. Eric Owens had a big day at the plate going 3 for 4 with a walk, stole a base (2), doubled (4), hit a two-run homer and scored two runs.
The big game changer in the game and the series was Hawaii’s outfield arms. Carlos Sanchez gunned down two runners at home to prevent this game from a ending in the loss column.
The Trops sweep the three-game series against the Stars.
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