Colorado Springs, L 8- 16 - Multi-hit nights for a number of players. Jonathan Herrera, Edwin Bellorin, and Chris Frey each had three hits, and Bellorin also drive in three runs. Sean Barker and Joe Koshansky both had two hits, and drove in two and one RBI each. Herrera also had an RBI.

Valerio De Los Santos allowed seven runs on ten hits over four innings. He allowed at least a run in every inning and allowed a two-run homer in the third and fourth innings. Sean Smith did not have a memorable debut, or at least not a good debut. He went three innings, allowed five runs, walked five, and struck out five. Three of those runs scored after he left the game and Matt Daley replaced him. Daley prompted served up a grand slam to Landon Powell. Daley would allow three more runs to score after that.

Tulsa, L 3-7 - Chris Nelson, Daniel Carte, and Jeff Dragicevich drove in the runs for Drillers while Nelson and Fowler had the only extra-base hits for the team, both doubles.  Fowler also stole his seventh base.

Brandon Hynick went six innings, allowed two runs on eight hits, and struck out six batters. Adam Bright allowed two runs to blow the lead. Jarrett Grube allowed one of the inherited runners to score and gave up three runs himself without recording an out. He walked three, which scored one of the runners Grube put on, and then the one hit Grube allowed turned out to be a bases-clearing double to give Springfield the lead. Ryan Mattheus struck out one batter, his only out in the game, after relieving Grube.

Modesto, L 1-3 - Despite collecting eleven hits (to Visalia's seven), the Nuts lost this one. Simon Ferrer had his best outing of the season so far after allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out five. Zach Simons walked three and struck out five in two innings of relief.

Tony Blanco had an RBI triple in the fifth. Daniel Mayora and Victor Ferrante had two hits each. Cole Garner had a double, and he recently sat down with Brian VanderBeek for an interview.

Asheville, W 5-1 in 12 innings - The Tourists scored the first run of the game in the fifth. Kevin Clark led off the inning with a double, who then moved over to third after Nick Noonan missed catching the ball on a pickoff attempt. Clark then scored on an error by the third baseman which allowed Helder Velazquez to reach base. In the 12th inning, Warren Schaeffer's two-run double and Everth Cabrera's two-run single gave the Tourists the victory. Cabrera stole his 13th base. Darin Holcomb hit his ninth double. Brian Rike and Jeff Cunningham struck out three times each, but Lars Davis accounted for five strikes out (16 between the entire team).

Cory Riordan went seven innings, allowed no runs on fours hits. He struck out seven. After Craig Baker allowed an unearned run to score in the eighth, Craig Rodriguez walked three over his two innings of work to pick up the win. Matthew Reynolds struck out two to finish the game.

Colorado Springs, W 12-3 - Ian Stewart and Joe Koshansky each had a homer last night, the fourth one for both. Jonathan Herrera collected two hits, three RBI, and his second stolen base of the season. Edwin Bellorin and Chris Frey had two-hit, two-RBI nights. Seth Smith and Sean Barker combined for six walks and four runs.

Jose Capellan struck out six and and allowed three runs on four hits and three walks in five innings. Those three runs, however, came in the second inning when he hit two and issued two walks. Alberto Arias, Josh Newman, and Steven Register threw four innings of one-hit relief. Register struck out all three batters he faced.

Tulsa, W 8-4 - Big night for the bats as the Drillers had four home runs. Dexter Fowler hit his third of the season in the first inning as part of a 4-for-5, one steal night, Jeff Dragicevich followed in the second inning with his first of the season, Eric Young Jr. also hit his first as part of a 3-for-5 night in the third inning, and Chris Nelson, not to be outdone, hits his first homer that same inning.

Tomas Santiago went five innings, allowed all four runs, and struck out seven. Adam Bright (1 2/3 IP) and Ryan Mattheus (1 1/3 IP) each allowed tow hits, but did not see a run cross the plate. Casey Weathers pitched the ninth and walked one.

The Drillers face a rehabbing Mark Mulder today.

Modesto. W 5-2 - Aneury Rodriguez held Lake Elsinore to two hits over seven innings. He struck out seven and walked two. Zach Simons pitching line says he allowed two runs, but Andrew Johnston replaced him with one out recorded after the bases were loaded on a single and two hit by pitches. Unfortunately, Johnston balked while facing his first batter, bringing in one run. The second run charged to Simons came on a ground out. Another ground out led to Johnston picking up his fourth save.

Cole Garner was the only player on offense not to record a hit. Mike Paulk, Victor Ferrante, Daniel Mayora, and Geoff Strickland all had two-hit nights. Strickland, however, had the only extra base hits of the nights for the Nuts. Both were doubles. He also had an RBI and a stolen base. Ferrante drove in two runs.

Brian VanderBeek had the chance to interview Dan O'Dowd when he visited Modesto to hand out rings. Check it out here.

Asheville - Postponed. Jason McGill has pieces on Brian Rike and Asheville closer Randall Taylor.

Colorado Springs: W 10-7

Maybe the Rockies should just swap their offense with that of the Sky Sox. Cory Sullivan finished a triple short of the cycle, Joe Koshansky homered and doubled, Jonathan Herrera had four hits and even Seth Smith -although going hitless- had three walks for Colorado Springs. In all, the Sky Sox had twenty-three baserunners Sunday, but still managed to make the game look close thanks to some shaky pitching from Jose Capellan, Alberto Arias and Juan Morillo. Morillo was so wild he just retired one batter before being replaced by Steven Register who stopped Tuscon's comeback cold.

Tulsa: W 7-2

Forget having a .400 batting average as something to shoot for, try .800. Corey Wimberly extended a hit streak to nine straight PA's before being denied in his fifth plate appearance and finished with a four for five day, but Wimberly's remarkable season has seen him get nine hits in eleven AB's for an astonishing .818 average thus far. Corey also stole two bases and scored twice. Dexter Fowler followed Wimberly in the batting order, and didn't pass up on the opportunity to use Corey's success to pad his RBI totals, he went three for five with two triples and three runs batted in. Eric Young Jr also had a three for five with two triples day. According to Tulsa's official site, Fowler and Young were the first Drillers to have a pair of triples in a game since Ryan Spilborghs did it three years ago. Chris Nelson contributed another pair of singles, thus far he hasn't shown any of the power that he had last season in Modesto, but it should come soon enough. It's not a coincidence that the Drillers first win of the season came on the day they had their best performance from a starting pitcher, Xavier Cedeno scattered seven hits and a walk in five innings, allowing two runs. He generated a nine to four GB/FB ratio and induced two GIDP's, which was big help given the traffic he was working with. Ryan Mattheus may finally be adjusting to bullpen work, he struck out three in an inning and a third while he, Casey Weathers and Matt Daley combined to shut down the Missions for four innings in relief of Cedeno.

Modesto: L 4-0

The Nuts really got a bad opening weekend draw to have to go up against the likes of Henry Rodriguez, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill, so it might be too early to bemoan the sorry state of their offense in the same we we're bemoaning the Rockies right now. Still, part of what I try to look at in evaluating prospects is how they do against the elite of other teams, and this opening test didn't resolve well for much of Modesto's lineup. For a bright spot, the bullpen's got a lot of 0.00 ERA's, though. Tommy Baumgardner, James Burok and David Patton all contributed scoreless appearances last night in relief of the struggling Keith Wieser. Modesto's pen went 15 1/3 innings giving up just one earned run and four runs in all over the four game series.

Asheville: W 6-5

Helder Velazquez and Darin Holcomb each hit their second doubles of the year, and Brian Rike and Warren Schaeffer also added a pair of hits do help drive the offense. Check out what the three middle infielders have done for the Tourists thus far. Schaeffer, Velazquez and Everth Cabrera have combined for eight hits (three doubles, five singles) and ten walks in 35 ABs for a .320/.514/.440 line. There's not a lot of power there, but they aren't contributing outs, either. Craig Baker has struck out four in two innings pitched now. Bruce Billings picked up the win but allowed four runs off eight hits and a walk in five innings pitched. Jason McGill notes that reliever Matt Reynolds got some vindication for giving up a grand slam on Thursday by pitching two scoreless innings yesterday.

Colorado Springs, L 10-12 - It was a good, old-fashion high-scoring game last night for the Sky Sox, just on the wrong end of it. Greg Reynolds had a rough first inning for the Sky Sox, allowing seven runs on eight hits and a sac fly. Two came off Randy Johnson's bat. After that it was a mostly smooth time over the next three innings. He didn't allow another hit, walked one (two total on the night), and struck out one. Juan Morillo pitched one inning, allowed two runs on a single, and walked three. Alberto Arias and Chris George also allowed runs when they were on the mound.

With two swings of the bat, Jonathan Herrera is just one short of tying his home run number from last year with Tulsa. He had a solo shot in the sixth and a two-run shot in the eighth (he had four RBI total last night). Ian Stewart also had a solo homer last night, and Seth Smith drove in three (two off a single, the other off a double).

Tulsa, L 7-8 (11 innings) - Daniel Carte and Jeff Kindel had back-to-back home runs in the second inning before runs became hard to come by. That is, until the closing innings of the game. Dexter Fowler drove in two on a single to center in the eighth, but was thrown out at second while attempting to stretch it out for a double. Carte smashed a ball for a two-run homer in the ninth (after Nelson scored on a passed ball) to give the Drillers the 7-5 lead. Chris Nelson collected two hits and two errors (fielding, throwing) and leadoff batter Eric Young Jr. went hitless, striking out three times.

Alan Johsnon received the call for Opening Day and had a rough go at it. He went 5 1/3 innings, allowed five runs on seven hits, and walked three. Matt Daley needed all of nine pitches to get through 1 2/3 innings. Casey Weathers made his debut in the eighth, struck out one, and threw seven of his twelve pitches for strikes. Pedro Strop wasn't as hot last night as he blew the save in the ninth inning. He hit the leadoff batter for that inning and allowed a single before yielding the double that tied the game. Jarrett Grube pitched the rest of the game and walked four (one intentional). In the bottom of the 11th, he walked Mitch Einertson and then allowed Eli Iorg to double him in for the victory.

Modesto, W 3-2 - Michael McKenry got off to a good start behind the plate as he threw out two runners in the first inning of the game. He would draw a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to drive in the winning run. Matt Repec and Mike Paulk drove in the other runs, the latter's on a sac fly. Anthony Jackson, a Modesto native, collected three hits and scored twice as the leadoff man. Brian VanderBeek will fill you in on the night Hector Gomez had in the field and at the plate.

Esmil Rogers opened the  season for the Nuts and did so with good results. In five innings, he allowed one run on three hits. After giving up a single to start the game, Rogers didn't allow another hit until a homer in the fifth inning (two of his three walks came during that span).  But Rogers didn't have three wild pitches like his opponent , Fautino De Los Santos.  Nor did he strike out six like Santos (he had two). Andrew Johnston picked up the save, walking one in the process.

Asheville, W 5-3 (11 innings) - Jhoulys Chacin took the mound with pretty good results. The good: 6 IP, 4 K, 1 H, 9-5 GO-FO.  The bad: 5 BB. Matthew Reynolds blew the game in the seventh by allowing four runs. He allowed two singles to start the seventh, loaded the bases on a throwing error, and then allowed a grand slam. Joey Williamson came in for three innings and struck out five. Craig Baker picked up the win after pitching the 11th inning and striking out two batters.

Helder Velzaquez led the offense tonight with two hits and three RBI. His first two RBI came in the fifth on a double, and the third one was the game winner in the eleventh. He also struck out three times. Darin Holcomb had a double and an RBI. Everth Cabrera and Mike Mitchell are starting to compete for stolen bases this season, as Cabrera swiped three and Mitchell had two. Cabrera had a nice start as the leadoff batter with two hits and three walks in addition to the steals. Brian Rike gunned down a runner at home in the bottom of the ninth, ending the opponent's threat to win the game.