California Wins Home Opener Against Springfield 2-1 in 12 Innings

Josh Hamilton waited until the 12th inning to get his first hit of 2011. It was clutch as the Roadrunners defeated the Isotopes 2-1 in the first home game for California. The game was highlighted (or low-lighted) by four Roadrunner errors, including a costly one by Ronny Cedeno in the top of the 12th that allowed J.D. Drew to score after his leadoff double.

Hunter Pence then returned the favor by mishandling a ball hit to him by Kosuke Fukudome. After Bengie Molina sacrificed Fukudome to third, Mark Ellis stepped up and delivered a single to tie the game. Clearly shaken up by the error, Chris Perez then walked the next two batters to load the bases. Springfield got the hook out for Perez, and brought in Edward Mujica to try and put out a nasty fire. However, Hamilton came up huge and smacked a game winning single for the victory in extras.

Here's the game summary from Strat-O-Matic:

One run was the difference at Angels Stadium as the California Roadrunners defeated the Springfield Isotopes in 12 innings 2 to 1.

No runners had crossed home plate after the regulation nine.  California won the hard fought contest in the 12th inning.  Kosuke Fukudome started the inning off right when he reached on an error.  Bengie Molina stepped up to the plate and he laid down a sacrifice bunt.  Mark Ellis then delivered a single. Julio Borbon came up and he drew a walk.  Jose Bautista came to the plate and drew a walk to load the bases.  Josh Hamilton extended the rally and laced a base-hit.  California had 8 hits for the night. 

Brandon Lyon (1-0) went 1 inning allowing 1 run for the victory. Chris Perez (0-1) took the loss in relief.  He gave up 2 runs and 1 hit in 1 inning.

When asked about how his players performed in their opening game, Nathan, the co-manager of the Roadrunners, exclaimed,"thanks to your playing and my decisions, we won the game!" Nathan was key in delivering some tough calls, including pulling starter Chris Volstad in the seventh, substituting him for Nate Robertson. Nathan also wanted an intentional walk delivered to Stephen Drew in the 4th, and demanded Trevor Bell pitch the 10th.

Brendan, the Roadrunners' other co-manager was asked after the game what it felt like to relinquish some of the play-calling duties to his fellow manager. "It could have been some beginners luck out there, or it could be a new brand of California Roadrunners Baseball for BRASS. Either way, it was an exciting opening day, and a great experience to share with Nathan."