Vigilantes End Drought, Beat Salinas
Alan Burke has received plenty of attention for his hitting this season and Monday was no exception.
The Vigilantes’ outfielder hit his team-leading 13th home run and also had a two-run double as Mission Viejo ended a four-game losing streak with a 6-1 victory over Salinas in front of a season-low announced crowd of 1,508 at Saddleback College.
Burke, who played third base the last two seasons but asked to be switched to the outfield this year, also turned in a pair of strong defensive plays in left.
His first impressive play came to end the fourth inning. He dashed in and dived to pick off a sinking flyball hit by Kenny Norman.
He then showed some versatility when he raced to the warning track and leaped to catch a drive off the bat of Joe Swope to end the sixth.
“We won and that’s the most important thing,” Burke said. “Before spring training I told [Manager] Buck [Rodgers] on the phone I just wanted to have fun, play left field and not worry about my defense.
“If they just leave me alone out there I told them I’d figure it out.”
The strong defensive plays helped offset three Vigilante errors.
Two of those errors--by second baseman Mike Cowell and shortstop Sean Drinkwater--led to an unearned run in the second. But Drinkwater, who had a double and a single in four at-bats, came back to make a fine play on a ball hit up the middle and turned it into a game-ending double play.
Starter Mike Smith was so sharp he was able to overcome his teammates’ defensive lapses. Smith improved to 4-3 and lowered his earned-run average to 2.81 by giving up one unearned run on five hits in eight innings. He struck out five.
It was the seventh consecutive start in which Smith, a right-hander, has given up two earned run or fewer. But as a testament to the struggles of the team, Smith is 3-3 in the span.
“[Catcher] Eric Brooks called a great game,” Smith said. “I just got stronger as I went. My best pitch was my fastball and spotting it. That’s been my best pitch all season.”
Burke began the scoring with a two-run homer in the first that drove in Drinkwater, who had singled with one out. The Vigilantes, (1-1 in the second half), loaded the bases in the fourth on singles by Bret Barberie, Carl Nichols, and Eric Brooks.
Chris Briones drove in the first run with a ground out and Mike Moutrey’s sacrifice fly made it 4-1.
In the seventh, Cowell walked, Sam Taylor singled and both scored when Burke doubled to the right-field fence.
All the runs came off Salinas starter Wally Ritchie (7-3), who has beaten the Vigilantes twice this season.
“He had been starting me with a breaking ball in the middle that broke away,” Burke said about the home-run pitch. “But that time it broke over the middle of the plate.”
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Tour of the West
A team-by-team look at the Western Baseball League:
Reno Chukars, Reno, Nev.
Club established: 1996
Home stadium: Moana Stadium, built in 1961; capacity, 3,500
Ownership: Principal is Bruce Engel, the club president. Engel, who also is involved in the lumber industry, is founder and president of the Western Baseball League.
Manager: Butch Hughes, the league’s manager of the year last season in his professional debut. He is also coached Merced College to seven state titles. Hughes, 56, signed as a free-agent pitcher with the Milwaukee Braves in 1962 but never reached the majors.
Most famous player: Mike Hartley, who in six years of major league service was 19-13 with a 3.70 earned-run average. He broke in with the Dodgers in 1989 and last pitched for the Orioles in ’95.
Reno baseball history: The Reno Silver Sox, an Oakland Athletics’ Class-A team in 1992, was the last team before the Chukars. The city has a rich California League history. Roberto Alomar, Benito Santiago and Kevin McReynolds played there when the San Diego Padres had farm teams from 1975-87. The Cleveland Indians had a team in Reno from 1966-73, and the Dodgers--Brooklyn and Los Angeles--from 1956-62. Dick Nen, father of Florida Marlin relief ace Robb Nen, from Los Alamitos, was the league’s rookie of the year in 1961. Willie Davis earned that honor with the Silver Sox in 1959, and Jim Lefebvre, who would be named NL rookie of the year in 1965, was a Cal League All-Star in 1962.
Next play Vigilantes: July 21-23, at Reno
Source: Reno Chukars