elrockinMT Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 Osprey blast White Sox By SCOTT MANSCH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Great Falls White Sox look like they need a little help, and the good news is that ballyhooed first-round draft choice Brian Anderson has arrived. The bad news is that he doesn't pitch. The Missoula Osprey banged out 20 hits en route to a 15-10 victory over the host White Sox Saturday night at Legion Park, in the process exposing a Great Falls pitching staff that is somewhat inexperienced. Carlos Gonzalez, a 17-year-old from Venezuela, and veteran Johe Acosta each powered a pair of home runs as the Osprey scored against five of the six Sox pitchers and won the rubber game of the three-game series to improve to 2-3 on the young season. For the White Sox, also 2-3, it was the second one-sided defeat the season-opening homestand, a week-long stay during which the home team's bullpen was rarely quiet. On Wednesday, seven Sox pitchers toiled in a 16-7 loss to Billings. On Saturday night, a paid crowd of 3,786 watched amid chilly, windy conditions as Missoula took charge from the get-go against Great Falls rookie right-hander Matt Nachreiner, an 18-year-old from Texas making his professional debut. Gonzalez rapped Nachreiner's eighth pitch for a two-run home run. The Missoula outfielder, who entered the game hitting but .182 (2 for 11), cracked another two-run shot off Nachreiner in the second. When Acosta added a solo blast later in the inning, a moon shot far over the scoreboard in left, the Osprey led 7-0 and Nachreiner, a fifth-round selection in the recent draft, was headed to the showers. "The best thing about this game is that you're going to get another opportunity, and he'll be back out there in five days and have to do it again," said Great Falls manager Chris Cron of Nachreiner's first start. "You have to put this lesson behind you and move on to the next one. ... He just left a couple pitches up in the zone, and they didn't miss many of his mistakes. That's pro ball." Gonzalez, a sweet-swinging southpaw, finished 4-for-6 with five RBI. "We came out aggressively from the beginning," said Wellington Cepeda, pitching coach for the Osprey. "Gonzalez signed this year and came to the states ready to play." It certainly showed. Chris Melendez also had four hits for the Opsrey, who entered the game hitting .209 as a team. Acosta, who also homered Friday night as the teams split a twinbill, blasted a two-run shot in the fifth as the Osprey extended their lead. "It feels great," said Cepeda. "After losing our first three games, to win these last two here really feels good." The White Sox never really got back into the game, although Brandon Bounds (3-for-4) and Clinton King (2-for-5 with a homer) tried to light a spark. Great Falls was, however, able to chip away at the deficit. Bounds tripled and scored in the second, then King, a third-round pick in the recent draft out of Southern Miss, powered his first professional home run in the third. Staked to the big lead, Missoula right-hander Manuel Cuevas appeared certain to pick up the victory. But the second-year pro yielded doubles to Sox sluggers Ricardo Nanita, Micah Schnurstein and Bounds in the fifth, and reliever Alexander Cremidan was summoned to put out the fire. Cremidan, a 35th-round draft pick from UC-San Diego in the 2003 draft, worked two-plus effective innings to gain the victory. The White Sox put up a bit of a fight in the ninth, as Schnurstein and Bounds smacked back-to-back doubles, and Carlos Lee contributed an RBI single. With two down, Mike Myers added a two-run single as the Sox reached season-high totals of 10 runs and 17 basehits. "We lost the game 15-10, but we kind of showed a little bit of never-give-up type of attitude," Cron said. "And we like that. When the games are closer we've got to maintain that never-give-up type of thing, and go out and play the game until the final out. That's a very big positive to draw from this game, because we weren't even in this game, ever, and we never gave up." Cron, a former slugging minor-leaguer who reached the majors briefly and has spent the last three seasons as a manager at the Triple-A level, isn't about to give up on his young pitchers. But he knows this: "It all starts and ends with pitching. The starter has to get you off on the right foot, and it didn't happen for us tonight." Although Anderson was in uniform, the former University of Arizona star who received a reported signing bonus of $1.6 million did not play. He is expected to make his professional debut Monday or Tuesday night, when the Sox open a road trip in Ogden, Utah. Cron said his club will take batting practice today at Legion Park before boarding a bus tonight for the trip south. The White Sox don't return to Legion Park until July 1. Missoula, meanwhile, opens its home season Monday against Idaho Falls. MISSOULA GREAT FALLS ab r h bi ab r h bi McStoots 2b 6 2 3 3 Gray 2b 6 0 2 1 Gonzalez rf 6 2 4 5 Myers ss 5 0 2 2 Murillo 3b 4 2 1 0 Nanita cf 4 1 2 0 Acosa dh 5 2 2 3 Cook cf 2 0 1 0 McCreery ph 1 0 0 0 King rf 5 1 2 1 Montero c 6 1 1 1 Schnurstein 3b 5 2 2 1 Mottram 1b 6 0 2 0 Bounds 1b 4 3 3 2 Guerrero lf 4 1 1 0 Lisk c 3 1 1 1 Melendez cf 5 3 4 1 Deuchler c 1 0 0 0 Olivares ss 4 2 2 0 Huson dh 4 0 0 0 Lee ph 1 1 1 1/Ivy lf 3 0 0 0/Haggerty ph 1 1 1 0 Totals 47 15 20 13 Totals 44 10 17 9 Missoula 432 022 020-- 15 Great Falls 021 030 004-- 10 IP H R ER BB SO Missoula Cuevas 4 * 9 6 6 2 5 Cremidan W, 1-0 2 ª 2 0 0 1 5 Perrault 1 5 4 4 0 2 Great Falls Nachreiner L, 0-1 1 * 6 7 6 2 2 Surratt 1 ª 5 2 2 1 1 Hudson 2 3 2 2 0 2 Russ 2 3 2 2 1 2 Reed 1 3 2 2 0 1 Hernandez 1 0 0 0 0 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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