[jksander]

APRIL 12, 1963 . . . For game one against the Guantanamo Gators, we’re pitching Jose Guzman (0-2, 5.70 ERA, 23.2 IP, 5 K’s, 1.77 WHIP) against Alex Rojas (1-2, 5.24 ERA, 22.1 IP, 17 K’s, 1.84 WHIP) at Gator Stadium. Victor Santos quickly got us on the baord with an RBI single, and another run scored when Jose Colon hit into a fielder’s choice, giving us a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first. But they loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning after scoring a quick run off an RBI single. Moments later they tied it up as Guzman walked in a run, though at least he managed to get out of it with a double play to avoid letting them take the lead. Victor Diaz batted in two runs in the top of the second with a double, and Logan Holmes batted in one with a double in the top of the third, giving us a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the inning. Guantanamo got one back with an RBI double in the bottom of the third, and they tied it back up in the bottom of the fourth with another RBI double, but Guzman did not surrender the lead. We loaded the bases without an out to start the top of the fifth, and Logan Holmes hit one deep into center, driving in a pair of runs to put us back in the lead. Diaz hit a sac-fly to right to drive in another run, giving us an 8-5 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. The Gators got a run back with an RBI single, but Guzman got us out safely and held on to some of the momentum we’d built, and from there the scoring seemed to turn off like a water faucet. We loaded the bases in the top of the eighth, and Juan Flores finally bought us some insurance, batting in a run with a single that kept them loaded. Logan Holmes hit a sac-fly to right, driving in another, sending us into the top of the eighth leading 10-6. Guzman stayed in and shut them down in the eighth, and they were no match for him in the ninth as we held tough to beat them by a 10-6 margin!

Guzman improved to 1-2 with a 5.79 ERA, pitching a complete game with 14 hits, two strikeouts, four walks and six earned runs. This was a slugfest, and we won the hitting battle 17-14, led by Juan Flores with four hits, a run and an RBI. Giordano Cantimori hit three times and scored twice, while Victor Diaz, Victor Santos, Jose Colon, Logan Holmes and Samuel Brisset each hit twice. Holmes, in his debut with our club, batted in four run, making great contact and proving to be a key player in our victory.
 
APRIL 13, 1963 . . . Tonight against the Gators we had Ludovic Peltier (1-2, 5.04 ERA, 25.0 IP, 11 K’s, 1.56 WHIP) pitching against Jose “Cooch” Ramirez (0-2, 5.25 ERA, 24.0 IP, 8 K’s, 1.79 WHIP). And this game started out as a pitching duel between the two. Juan Flores doubled with one out in the top of the fourth and Fernandez batted him home with a single to break the stalemate, and a Logan Holmes single drove Fernandez over to third! Diaz hit one that looked like it was going to blow out into the stands, but their center fielder leapt out to grab it and we went into the bottom of the fourth leading 1-0. Peltier walked a batter in the bottom of the fourth and then gave up an RBI single to tie it up, but we didn’t surrender the lead. And it stayed a nailbiter from there! The Gators picked up a double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but Diaz made a KILLER throw to home off a single by their shorstop Carlos Leon, picking the runner off at the plate to get us out of the inning still knotted up 1-1. Holmes got a hit to start the top of the ninth, and Peltier hit a sac-bunt that moved him to second. They walked Diaz, and then Jonathan Gonzalez got one up the gap and into the outifeld, loading the bases! And we broke them from there, with a wild pitch allowing Holmes to score the go-ahead run, and Cantimori driving in two more with a single deep into the outfield! Peltier took a three-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, giving up a pair of hits around a pair of outs, and then allowing the Gators to get a run back with an RBI single. But a pop-out to right ended the game as a 4-2 Hunters victory, and we’ll be back tomorrow hoping to complete the road sweep!

Nothing I’d seen from Peltier this year suggested he had a game like this in him, but he came out of tonight with a complete game nine-hit win, striking out six, walking a pair and allowing just two earned runs. He improves to 2-2 with a 4.24 ERA in the process. We had 13 hits ourselves, led by Gonzalez (three hits, a walk, a run) and Flores (three hits and a run). Holmes, Cantimori and Santos each had a pair of hits as well, with Cantimori driving in two runs, giving him three on the year through eight games.

APRIL 14, 1963 . . . For our final game against Guantanamo, we started Roberto Diaz (0-1, 6.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 3 K’s, 2.50 WHIP) against Juan Ruiz (2-0, 3.28 ERA, 24.2 IP, 3 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). The Gators scored in the bottom of the first off an RBI single by left fielder Bill Guadarrama, and they picked up another in the bottom of the second, thanks mostly to our shortstop being petrified to make any throws at all when grabbing an infield hit. Diaz got called for an inexplicable balk in the bottom of the fourth, and a run scored from third because of it to make it 3-0 Guantanamo, and at that point they saw we were wounded and pounced. Three hits and two outs later we got out of the inning but they had us now shut out by six runs. Fernandez grounded out to first in the top of the sixth, driving in a run for us at last, and Jose Colon hit an RBI double in the top of the eighth to pull us within four. Logan Holmes pinch-hit for Flores, hitting an RBI triple, and they walked Fernandez. Brisset hit into a fielder’s choice, and Jose Alcaraz hit for Diaz with two outs, but he couldn’t get us out of the infield. We trailed 6-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, with Esteban Salinas coming in to pitch, with Jose Castro coming in to play left field. With two outs, Salinas gave up an RBI single that extended the Gators’ lead to four runs, loaded the bases with another single, and then gave up two more on an RBI double. We went into the top of the ninth needing an insane rally, trailing by six. Jose Castro walked in a run with two outs and the bases loaded, but Fernando grounded out to first and we lost this one 9-4.

Roberto Diaz fell to 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA, allowing 11 hits and six runs (five earned) with four strikeouts and a walk during his seven innings of work. Salinas’ eighth inning was a mess, with five hits and three earned runs as his ERA ballooned to 10.80 through five innings of relief this season. They outhit us 16-10, with Victor Diaz, Victor Santos and Jose Castro each hitting twice. Holmes came through as a pinch hitter with a hit and an RBI, giving him a .625 average through eight at-bats.

Next Up: A three game set against the Manzanilla Cattlemen at Cattlemen Field (see below!)