By Ryan Thies
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – The Palm Springs POWER captured their first victory of the season in comeback fashion against the Santa Rosa Smoke behind a breakout offensive performance from first baseman Daniel Sander who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.
Tyler Wells started on the mound for the POWER as he threw four complete innings and he struck out four. He ran through a few speed bumps in the second inning as the Smoke hit five consecutive singles, plating three runs. Santa Rosa added one more run in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead after Ian Horne led off the inning with a triple and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Ryan Myers.
Kobie Foppe got the POWER scoring started in the third inning on an RBI fielder’s choice and Harry Shipley added another run in the third on an RBI walk to cut the deficit in half, 4-2.
Jordan Cavazos then came on in relief as he threw three complete shut out innings notching three strikeouts and the win.
Daniel Sander led of the fifth inning with a double and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Raslowsky.
The POWER went on to take the lead in the following inning on an RBI double by Dylan Garcia and a 2-out 2-RBI double by Daniel Sander, making the score 6-4.
Two more insurance runs were scored in the seventh and eighth innings. The first was an RBI single by Dylan Garcia, his second of the night, scoring Nick Jackson. Erik Maki scored the final run for the POWER on an RBI single by Nick Jackson who went 2-for-2 on the night.
Those insurance runs proved to be important as the Smoke made things interesting in the ninth by scoring two runs credited to Avery Sullivan, but Keaton Cenatiempo shut the door on the Smoke by striking out Jason Ibrahim to earn the save and secure the POWER’s first win of the 2015 season.
The Palm Springs pitchers bounced back from a tough night last night, only giving up two walks and striking out 11 batters.
The POWER will be back in action on Sunday night in the rubber match against the Santa Rosa Smoke, first pitch at 7:05 P.M.
