Games of April 16

Kennys Vargas goes deep for the Red Wings.  Shutouts for Jacksonville and Fort Myers, with Randy LeBlanc pitching his second consecutive gem.

ROCHESTER 10, SYRACUSE 6 IN ROCHESTER (GAME 1--7 INNINGS)

It wasn't as close as it sounds.  The Red Wings led 7-1 after three and 10-2 after four.  Syracuse scored some late runs but never really threatened to get back into the game.

Jason Wheeler pitched five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  Tommy Field was 2-for-3 with a home run (his second), scoring three times and raising his average to .333.  Mitch Garver was 2-for-3 with a double and is batting .429.  Kennys Vargas was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer, his second.  Matt Hague was 0-for-3 to drop his average to .389.  Ben Paulsen was 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs and is batting .357.  Leonardo Reginatto was 1-for-3 and is batting .391.

SYRACUSE 7, ROCHESTER 6 IN ROCHESTER (GAME 2--7 INNINGS)

The Chiefs scored four in the first and led all the way.  The Red Wings closed to 6-5 and 7-6 and had the tying run on first when the game ended.  Ex-Twin Joe Nathan pitched a third of an inning, giving up a run on two hits but still picking up his second save.

Aaron Slegers, who had done so well in his first game, lasted only 3.2 innings and was tagged for five runs on eleven hits and a walk.  He did strike out six, giving him 13 strikeouts in 9.2 innings.  Daniel Palka was 4-for-4 with two home runs (his third and fourth) plus a double, scoring three times and driving in four.  Matt Hague was 2-for-4, raising his average to .400.  Ben Paulsen was 1-for-4 to drop his average to .344.

CHATTANOOGA 1, JACKSONVILLE 0 IN JACKSONVILLE

Jonathan Rodriguez hit a home run (his second) with one out in the seventh for the game's only run.  The Jumbo Shrimp's best scoring chance came in the second, when David Vidal was thrown out trying to score from second on a Cam Maron single.  Ex-Twin Chris Mazza struck out six in six shutout innings for Jacksonville.  Ex-Twin Jeremias Pineda was 0-for-3 for Jacksonville.

Paul Clemens pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, giving up five hits and a walk with four strikeouts.  Todd Van Steensel pitched 1.2 scoreless innings and Mason Melotakis pitched two shutout innings.  Both men have 0.00 ERAs in the young season.  The Lookouts had only four hits.  One of them went to Engelb Vielma, who was 1-for-4 and is batting .314.

FORT MYERS 5, DAYTONA 0 IN DAYTONA

Two walks and an error led to a three-run fourth that put the Miracle up 4-0.  The Tortugas made four errors in the game.

Randy LeBlanc pitched seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks with four strikeouts.  He has not given up a run in fourteen innings this season, allowing eight hits and two walks while striking out twelve.  I'm not saying that he "has nothing to learn in Fort Myers" yet, but if he keeps this up one would hope he won't be there much longer.  Nick Anderson struck out two in two shutout innings.  Zander Weil was 2-for-2 with a home run.  Alex Perez was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .341.  Chris Paul was 1-for-5 with a double and is batting .310.  Daniel Kihle was 0-for-4 and is batting .300.  On the other end of the scale, Trey Vavra was 0-for-3 and is batting .080 in 25 at-bats.

TODAY'S TILTS

5:35  Florida (Tyler Pike, 0-1, 6.23) at Fort Myers (Lachlan Wells, 0-1, 1.29)
6:15  Biloxi (Aaron Wilkerson, 1-1, 3.38) at Chattanooga
6:30  Cedar Rapids (Clark Beeker, 0-1, 2.57) at Peoria