Starting off with the t-ball circuit, Casper's Cole Garner hit his seventh homerun early, but most of Casper's action occurred later as the Rockies came back to win mostly off of a Steven Suarez three run shot. Australians Lindsay Webb and Ross Hipke relieved the uneven Brandon Durden with four innings of one hit ball to keep Casper close before the comeback. Andrew Johnston picked up his sixth save to close out the win and amazingly the Missouri product has yet to yield an earned run this season for Casper in eight appearances covering almost ten innings of work. He's allowed only four hits and zero walks in that time. Johnston's one pitch arsenal might be less effective at higher levels, but for now he remains one of the bright spots of our rookie leagues.
Skipping up to Modesto as the NWL and the Tourists of Asheville had the night off, the Nuts once again lost to the D-backs Lancaster affiliate, this time letting super-hot Stephen Drew do some damage - two doubles, though not as much as Jeff Cook, who had the same two doubles but added a homerun besides. For our side, Christian Colonel did even better still, he had the doubles, the homerun and another single, and all in all the offense for Modesto wasn't bad (Chris Ianetta returned from walking once at the Futures Game with three more BB's last night) but the pitching was atrocious, particularly Steven Register and Miguel Corpas who combined to allow fourteen runs.
The only other game in the farm was Tulsa, where after a shaky start, the Drillers pounded out some runs and came back to win eleven to nine. Jayson Nix has had a remarkable run so far in his last three games as he's been moved to the top of the order. In that time he's eight for fourteen, including last night's three for four with a double and four runs scored. Matt Holliday is enjoying his brief return to his home state of Oklahoma, he had another pair of hits including a crushing sixth inning Grand Slam that keyed the Drillers' victory. Jud Thigpen also had two more hits, Tony Miller a pair of walks and a hit and Tulsa wound up winning eleven to nine. With Brad Hawpe ailing and Holliday hot, the Rockies might speed up the latter's rehab and move him up to Colorado Springs shortly.