Although Las Vegas notched eight hits, they were concentrated amongst the 2nd-5th hitters, as leadoff man Mike McCoy, sixth hitter Adam Loewen, Brian Jeroloman and Manny Mayorson combined to go 0-for-16. McCoy took a walk and Jason Lane drew a pair of free passes, while going 0-for-2. Dewayne Wise, batting behind McCoy, went 2-for-5 with run, a double and three strikeouts. Brett Lawrie followed him by going 1-for-2 with a double, two runs and three walks. Travis Snider was 2-for-4 with a run, RBI and a walk. Finally, Eric Thames was 3-for-5 with 3 doubles and 3 RBI. Snider, Lawrie and McCoy all stole bases off Kevin Cash in the contest.

Brad Mills started for the 51s. He went 7 strong innings, not walking a batter and striking out five. Mills allowed 7 hits and three earned runs. He retired 10 of the 14 batters on balls in play on groundouts. Sean Henn took over for the last 2 innings. He didn’t allow a run and lowered his ERA to 1.54. Henn struck out one, induced one flyout and got four grounders.

The 51s entered the bottom of the ninth inning tied with the Express 3-3, but after McCoy and Wise were retired, both Lawrie and Snider walked. Lawrie, the winnig run, was on second for Eric Thames and he didn’t disappoint the home fans, driving his third double of the game to right field, scoring Snider and giving Las Vegas a thrilling victory.

Although he didn't pitch last night, thanks to TamRa for a link to an interesting article on Danny Farquhar and the organization's decision to have him solely throw sidearmed.

New Hampshire 13 @ Reading 10 – Boxscore

Despite being outhit 16-9, the Fisher Cats won a slugfest as they topped the Reading Phillies by 3 runs. Chad Beck started and improved to 4-0 after hurling 5.2 innings. Beck allowed 7 hits and a walk, which resulted in 5 runs, 4 earned and one stemming from Michael McDade’s first error of the season. Beck struck out 4 as his ERA rose to 2.56. He turned the ball over to Ronald Uviedo, who had an outing to forget by allowing 4 runs on 5 hits over a third of an inning. Evan Crawford struck out 3 over 2 innings, but gave up four hits and allowed a single run. Bobby Korecky threw a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save. Both he and Crawford have ERAs under 2.00.

Although the Fisher Cats scored 13 runs, no player had more than 2 hits and that was only accomplished by Anthony Gose and Travis d’Arnaud. Gose was 2-for-3 with his first homer of the year and a pair of walks. He scored four runs, drove in four and scored from second base on a wild pitch in the first inning. D’Arnaud was 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored. McDade went 1-for-4, but his hit was a big one, as he socked a three-run homer in the top of the sixth to make the score 12-1, although that homer would turn out to be quite important shortly. McDade scored twice, took a walk and drove in four. Darin Mastroianni and Adeiny Hechevarria combined for two hits, but five runs. Each went 1-for-4 with a walk, but Mastroianni scored three times and Hecheavarria twice. Ricardo Nanita and John Tolisano were each 1-for-3; Nanita drove in two and Tolisano scored once and drew a walk. Moises Sierra and Mark Sobolewski were each 0-for-4, but Sierra drove in a run and drew a walk. Phillipe Aumont, the Canadian hurler acquired from Seattle in the Cliff Lee deal, pitched a scoreless ninth.

Jupiter 9 @ Dunedin 4 – Boxscore

This game sat tied at 2 apiece after 6 frames, but the Hammerheads exploded for 7 runs over the final 3 innings and Dunedin scored 2 in the bottom of the ninth in a short bid at a comeback. Henderson Alvarez started for Dunedin and left without a decision. He threw 6 innings and gave up 2 runs on three hits and a walk. Alvarez only struck out a pair, but lowered his ERA to 6.48 in a bid to get his season on track. Anton Loup took the loss, surrendering 3 runs on four hits over 1.2 innings. Chris Malone came into the game with one of Loup’s runners on base and promptly allowed him to score by issuing four walks. Dumas Garcia ensured Malone was only tagged with a single run by escaping the bases-loaded two-out jam, but he allowed three runs on five hits in the ninth.

The D-Jays only picked up 6 hits in the game, half of them coming from Bradley Glenn, who was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs and 2 RBI. Jon Talley was 2-for-4, with Glenn and Talley going back-to-back with solo homers in the ninth inning. The only other hit in the game was a single by A.J. Jimenez. Chris Hopkins and Justin Jackson each drew a pair of walks, with Hopkins coming around to score a run. Sean Ochinko drew a walk and Ryan Goins had an RBI during an 0-for-4 evening.

Great Lakes 6 @ Lansing 7 – Boxscore

Egan Smith started for the Lugnuts and went 3 innings. Smith allowed two hits and a walk, striking out three. One of the hits was a two-out double that scored two runs, both unearned because of a Bryson Namba error earlier in the inning. Smith turned the ball over to Texas native Sam Strickland, who threw 4 innings in relief. Strickland allowed three hits, a pair of walks and a single earned run. Strickland struck out four. Princeton alumni Danny Barnes took over from Strickland and allowed three runs, although two were unearned on a pair of errors by Barnes and shortstop Gustavo Pierre. The error was Pierre’s 22nd. Barnes struck out three over his 2 innings.

Barnes entered the game in the top of the eighth with the game tied at 3-3, but after the pair of errors in the top of the eighth the Loons had a 6-3 lead, which they maintained through eight and a half. Two of Lansing’s runs had come on a two-out triple by Pierre that scored Namba and Oliver Dominguez. In the sixth, K.C. Hobson singled with runners on first and third, scoring Marcus Knecht and advancing Michael Crouse to third (Hobson went to second on the throw) with one out. However, Namba and Dominguez both struck out.

In the bottom of the ninth, Namba singled and then Dominguez doubled to center, leaving runners on second and third with none out. Pierre reached on an error, but the runners didn’t advance, leaving the bases loaded for Marcus Brisker. Brisker singled, plating Namba and Dominguez, with Pierre advancing to third. Carlos Perez struck out, bringing up Marcus Knecht with one out. The D-Jays then became adventurous on the bases, as Brisker and Pierre executed the double-steal, with Brisker advancing into scoring position and Pierre coming in to count with the game-tying run. Knecht then continued his hot hitting with a double to left that plated Brisker and gave Lansing a walkoff victory.

EditGreat Lakes 4 @ Lansing 1 – Boxscore

Daniel Webb pitched 5 innings and surrendered 4 runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out two. Dayton Martze and Ross Turnbull each threw a scoreless inning of relief. At the plate, the Lugnuts were limited to three hits. Pierre and Namba each went 1-for-2 and Crouse was 1-for-3. Namba had the only extra-base hit with a double and had the team’s RBI. He drove in Knecht, who had drawn a walk. Namba and Marisnick each also drew a free pass.

Three Stars
Honourable Mentions: Henderson Alvarez, Marcus Knecht, Brett Lawrie, Michael McDade and Brad Mills.
3rd Star – Bradley Glenn, 3-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, 6 TB
2nd Star – Eric Thames, 3-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 6 TB
1st Star – Anthony Gose, 2-3, 4 R, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 5 TB