TOPEKA THUNDERBEARS (Single-A)
A good start to the season quickly went sour after Topeka won their first two games and then embarked on a four-game losing streak.
4-game series vs Billings Cowboys (Twin Cities affiliate)
Opening Day in Topeka was just fine, 6,114 good folks showed up to welcome in 2042 and weren’t disappointed. Both teams swapped two runs in the first innings, but that was all the real offense the Cowboys could manage. The Thunderbears took the league with a run in the second innings and the game was won. Topeka went on to add three more in the third and two each in the sixth & seventh as the home Opener was won 10-2 with Billings managing a mere four hits. Bill Burke was the Topeka star, he went 3-5 with the Thunderbears only home run of the day and he ended up scoring twice and driving in two.
Game two was just as good for the homesters. Topeka sent eight men to the plate in the second innings and four of them came home in four run innings. The Cowboys answered with a two-run homer in the top of the third and that was that, no-one else provided any offence and the game finished 4-2. 19-yr-old Reynold Voermans pitched 7 innings giving up just three hits and two runs while striking out four while the offence was helped by Alejandro Jaquez who went 2-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in two runs.
Game three was when the season suddenly turned around. Topeka again took a lead in the second innings thanks to three singles plating a run, but again there was no Thunderbears offence the rest of the game. Unfortunately, this time the Cowboys got it going. Two runs in the third this time gave the visitors the lead and a fourth innings leadoff triple started an offensive burst that included a 3-run homer and finished with a winning 6-1 lead. Bill Burke, Walton Gomez and Francisco Espinoza all went 2-4, but only Espinoza scored a run.
The final game of the four-game series went badly as well. Topeka jumped out to their now customary lead early this time, scoring twice in the bottom of the first, but the teams were level at two in the fifth. Cowboys took advantage of the Thunderbears’ bullpen though and three runs in both the seventh & eighth innings killed the home team off and tied the series at 2-2. Stephen Chavez hit his first homer of 2042, a 2-run shot, but ended 1-4 with 2 RBI and two runs scored.
2 games vs Grand Junc. Gold Sox (Chicago affiliate)
In a novel fixtures schedule one game was in Topeka and the other in Grand Junction. Game one was a bust for the hometown Thunderbears from the moment they coughed up three runs in the top of the second innings, they never really recovered from that. Valentinius Mirumian scored the Topeka run in the bottom of the third innings but that was all Thunderbears got. the Gold Sox rounded out a 5-1 win in he sixth. Topeka’s backup third baseman Vicente Valencia went 2-3 scoring once.
After both teams high-tailed it over to Colorado straight after the game finished, Game two proved to be more tightly contested. The Thunderbears opened the scoring in the second innings with a 3-run blast from the regular third baseman Manny Hernandez, but Grand Junction answered back with four hits & three runs of their own in the bottom half of the innings. Topeka restored their lead in the top of the third and that looked like a win for us until the bottom of the ninth. Thunderbears successfully blew their head off then when Mike Allain loaded the bases and then walked home the tying run. He got the old hook for Jose Macel who walked home the winning run in four straight balls.
4/5 vs Grand Junction L 1-5
4/6 @Grand Junction L 4-5
Standings as at April 6th
