Snake Stars:
3 Stars: Jackson LHP Alex Young 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, GS 78, W (7-5)
2 Stars: Hillsboro RHP Connor Grey 7 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, GS 74, W (5-2)
1 Star: Visalia LF Grant Heyman 3 for 5, 2 HR (13, 14), 4 RBI, 3 R
0 Stars: Kane County RHP Trevor Simms 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R (3 ER), 0 BB, 3 K, BS (2), L (1-1)
Pavin Smith: 0 for 3, 3 BB, R
Reno Aces 5, Colorado Springs Sky Sox 10: Early on it looked like the Aces were going to win this game. Trailing 2-1 going into the 5th, the Aces scored 4 runs to take a 5-2 lead. Willians Astudillo helped his batterymate out by clubbing a 2-run homer. However, Frank Duncan hit the wall in the 6th inning and Kaleb Fleck did nothing to help him out as he allowed 2 runs himself. The big inning put the Aces behind 10-5 as the Sky Sox scored 7.
Jackson Generals 2, Birmingham Barons 1: Alex Young turned his best start as a pro, blanking the Barons for 6 innings with 8 strikeouts. The Generals scratched across runs in the 5th and 8th inning as part of the support, which was barely enough. Curiously the Generals were unable to score more than 2 runs despite hitting 5 extra base hits. After Young left the game, the Generals put in another lefty in Gabriel Moya and he proceeded to do Gabriel Moya things with 2 shutout innings to lower his season ERA to 0.82 (not a typo). Yuhei Nakaushiro had a shaky 9th inning, but got the 3rd out before the Barons could tie the game.
Visalia Rawhide 11, Inland Empire 66ers 3: Jon Duplantier had a brief 2nd inning hiccup where he allowed 3 runs to come across, but settled in after that. Overall he gave up just those 3 runs on 8 hits, walked 3, and struck out 7. The next 11 runs were scored by the Rawhide, in large part due to a 2-homer day from Grant Heyman, who drove in 4. Heyman wasn’t the only guy pushing runs across as 5 other hitters recorded at least 1 RBI. The bullpen was nails after Duplantier left the game, with Ryan Burr picking up a huge out in the 6th inning in what was a 4-3 game before the offense put the game out of reach with 7 runs in the final 3 frames.
Kane County Cougars 2, Lake County Captains 4: The Cougars scratched across a pair of runs over the first two innings. Seth Spivey had an RBI double in the first and Ben DeLuzio an RBI triple in the 2nd. That was enough support for Ryan Atkinson, who struck out 10 in 6 innings of 1-run ball. Unfortunately, the very inning after he left, Trevor Simms allowed 3 runs to score on a 3-run homer.
Hillsboro Hops 15, Spokane Indians 0: The Hops massacred the Indians, leaving a trail of destruction as they scored 15 runs. Pavin Smith and Drew Ellis were the only two batters not to get a hit in this game, but they walked a combined 6 times so we can forgive that. The Hops took advantage of 10 walks by Indians pitching with timely hitting, as evidence by a 9 for 21 clip with RISP. Eudy Ramos and Ryan Grotjohn each drove in 4 runs apiece.
Missoula Osprey 2, Ogden Raptors 8: After falling behind 2-0, the Osprey tied the game with back-to-back RBI singles by Joey Rose and Andy Yerzy. Unfortunately, that was all the scoring for the Osprey. James Johnson took the start and struggled in the 6th inning thanks to some sloppy defense by guys behind him and his own throwing error.