Chad Pinder highlights a busy affiliate stretch

With the opening of Stockton's homestand, Stockton began with a marathon bout spanning 18 frames and in excess of 320 minutes as the Ports claimed a victory over Visalia after utilizing Wade Kirkland, a middle infield utility specialist, and Dusty Robinson, Stockton's corner outfield and DH option, upon the mound in the 16th through 18th innings. The contest began with a moonshot smashed off of the bat of Renato Nuñez for his second consecutive contest with a dinger while Manaurys Correa threw nine offerings in a instant 1-2-3 first frame. Unfortunately, Correa dissolved with a pair of dingers surrendered in the second that saw Stockton plummet into a 4-1 deficit. Luckily, thanks to Chad Pinder game tying two run blast in the 5th following a Dusty Robinson run scoring double in the 2nd, the Ports knotted the ballgame at 4-4 heading onward through the night and into April 11th. After a sensational appearance from Tucker Healy, Nolan Sanburn would man the 9th frame for Stockton and grapple with a runner on third with one out. Despite generating a strikeout, the consequential wild pitch plated the go-ahead run as Stockton was faced with a 5-4 situation entering the B9th. With two already sent sulking to the dugout, Bobby Crocker launched a dinger to opposite center field to ultimately guarentee another approximate three hours of the contest. Within extra frames, both ballclubs had runners on third base with one or fewer out and were unsuccessful in their attempts to score them, with Visalia squandering two of these opportunities. Stockton wound up capitalizing in the 18th off a Chad Pinder (3-7, HR, 2 2B, BB) double and a finally successful strike from Billy McKinney (2-9) to snap a consecutive losing streak in the Bakersfield the series prior. Bruce Maxwell (3-5), Robinson (2-5, 2B, 2 BB), and Matt Olson (2-6, 2B, 2 BB) also contributed to the victory for the Ports. Jeremy Barfield (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB [1 IBB], 5 K) was outstanding in relief as the Ports while Kirkland and Robinson went a cumulative  3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K in impromptu outings. The Ports would string together consecutive victories following this as the responded versus a battered and fatigued Rawhide squad with a 9-4 result as Chad Pinder and Dusty Robinson were triples short of cycles while McKinney (2-5, HR) catapulted his 4th HR on the campaign. Most notably within this bout was Michael Ynoa throwing a mere three offerings before being escorted from the contest after an initial HBP and stumbling into a 2-0 count. The hulking righty evidently would succumb to a bicep strain, which has since placed him upon the disabled list in correspondence to Omar Duran's activation. Stockton couldn't maintain their composure heading forward, as the 209 bunch were bested 5-3 on Saturday despite the third consecutive bout for Chad Pinder with 3+ base hits and a HR, now hitting 11-17 with four dingers upon his Banner Island debut following a 4-4 (2 HR) effort in an inevitable 7-4 defeat. After opening at 0-10 (5 K) skid within Visalia, Pinder has since gone 16-31 with 5 HR, 4 2Bs, 4 BB and 2 K (.516/.571/1.129). Seth Streich orchestrated another plus performance as the Ohio native went 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 5 GB/1 FB in an effort that went unrewarded. In the final performance, Billy McKinney, Bruce Maxwell and Dusty Robinson once more rampaged and launched a dinger barrage on Visalia in a ultimate futile effort as they were bested 7-4 and progress onward to the Bakersfield set owning a 5-6 record thus far. Ryon Healy additionally smacked a triple in the skirmish and Renato Nuñez hit a double to bolster Stockton's performance at the plate, which couldn't supplant Josh Bowman's struggles as the Tampa native went 6 IP, 11 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K with a 9 GB/6 FB while Kris Hall had a flawless three frames after appearing from the bullpen with a 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K contribution.

Sacramento represented the remaining half of Oakland's central Californian affiliates as they fell within Las Vegas during the finale of the Nevada series despite impressive power outings from Nate Freiman (3-5, 2 2Bs) and Ryan Ortiz (2-4, 2 2Bs) while Shane Peterson (2-5, 2B) and Mike Taylor (1-3, HR, BB) also attempted to veer the Kitty Cats towards a positive result. Joe Blanton had an exemplary bout in his second appearance as a Rivercat, going 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 HR), 1 BB, 6 K, 3 GB/5 FB before his startling retirement announcement after a two outing stint with the organization he originated with.  Unfortunately, Deryk Hooker's 1/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 0 K relief outings would prevent any intentions of a split as Sacramento was left to board their flight to California in lowly spirits. Nate Freiman's homestand opening 8th inning go-ahead grand slam would instantly inject optimism into Sacramento though, as the 6'8" first baseman went 2-5 (HR) alongside Jake Goebbert (2-3, BB, 2B, HBP) and Mike Taylor (1-4, 2B, BB) to preserve a 7-6 victory while Fernando Nieve, Phil Humber and Jose Flores spinned outstanding performances in relief. Josh Lindblom would make up for his disastrous Rivercat debut with a sterling seven inning outing with 6 H, 4 R (1 HR), 1 BB, 5 K, 104 pitches (76 strikes), 6 GB/8 FB while Ryan Ortiz (0-1, BB, 2 HBP), Mike Taylor (1-3, 2B, BB), Anthony Aliotti (1-4, 2B), and Tyler Ladendorf (3-3, BB) assisted the Rivercats to their second straight victory. Sacramento then proceeded to complete their homestand sweep over Salt Lake in a doubleheader finale format as they obsconded with their first bout 8-2 as Nate Freiman (2-3, 2B, BB), Alden Carrithers (3-3, BB), and Phil Pohl within his AAA debut (1-4, 2B) led the Kittens to a seven inning victory thanks to Arnold Leon, Joe Savery and a brief two pitch appearance from Deryk Hooker as the pitching contingent bolted down the third straight win for Sacramento. Jeremy McBryde, Fernando Rodriguez, Phil Humber and Evan Scribner were utilized in the second contest as the Cats shutout SLC (7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K) and were provided with enough offensive insurance from Shane Peterson (2-3, 2B), Hiroyuki Nakajima (1-3, 2B) and Tyler Ladendorf (1-1, BB) to claim a fourth straight en route to their Fresno showdown. 

Midland dropped their closing bout to Arkansas as Tanner Peters donned the mound and went 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 7 GB/8 FB in a second consecutive plus performance upon making his entry into the Texas League. Jeff Urlaub complemented him with a perfect few frames in relief as the Rockhounds were defeated once more by a 2-1 score as they continued to sputter as Conner Crumbliss' 2-3 (2B/BB) outing was the lone successful attempt while 18 year old, Jose Chavez, went 1-3 within his 2014 and American debut with Texas. In the corresponding game however, Raul Alcantara burst past his competition for yet another sensational performance following his AA debut in Midland with a 6 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 9 GB/1 FB outing en route to being bestowed with the "Texas League pitcher of the week" honors while Frank Gailey (2014 debut) and Seth Frankoff combined for a cumulative 2 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K performance in relief to reward the Hounds' offensive ignition as D'Arby Myers had a 3-5 day while Billy Burns and Max Muncy both went 1-3 (2 BB) while Jefry Marte launched his first dinger of the campaign. D'Arby Myers kept his streak active as he obliterated Northwest Arkansas in the series opening outing as he fell a double shy of a cycle with a 4-4 (HR/3B/BB) performance that was further strengthened by Conner Crumbliss (2-5), Max Muncy (2-3, 2B, 2 BB), Josh Whitaker (2-4, HBP), Beau Taylor (1-4, HR) and the organizational debut of free agent acquisition, Colin Walsh (2-5, 2B). Drew Granier makes his third appearance of the campaign on Monday following a deplorable opening contest and an inflated pitch count recently that prevented him from mustering enough to breeze past four innings in his latest effort. 

The Snappers have unfortunately fallen into a subpar stretch following a four game winning streak after now suffering four consecutive losses. Beloit, now possessing a 4-6 record, has amassed a cumulative six runs within their six defeats while plating 18 in their four victories as they have stumbled consistently offensively following a sweep to West Michigan and still have yet to blast a second dinger, as Tyler Marincov still has the only HR upon the ballclub. Marincov has been one of the most potent contributors as well, hitting 8-27 with a HR, two doubles and a 6:9 BB/K. Bijon Boyd (8-34, 2B, 5 BB, 7 K), Boogie Powell (11-40, 5 BB, 8 K), and Chih Fang-Pan (8-29, 4 2Bs, 3 BB, 5 K) have been the most prominent offensive assets for the turtles while Ryan Huck just recently was one of the minute optimistic spots within the West Michigan series as the gigantic 27th rounder went 3-7 with a double and three walks to feature as one of the Wisconsin affiliate's most outstanding positional players as of recently. Kyle Finnegan (5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 6 GB/4 FB) was successful once more in regards to run prevention while Dylan Covey (5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 6 GB/3 FB) struggled to an extent once again. Ronald Herrera couldn't duplicate his phenomenal debut as the youngster encountered his initial Midwest League roadbump by going 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 0 K, 8 GB/8 FB while Beloit was toppled in their most recent performance despite Sam Bragg being dominant in relief once more and now owns an accumulated 7 1/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K line to complement fellow marvelous bullpen residents such as Chris Lamb (5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K) and Matt Stalcup (5 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K) as the Snappers staff has arguably been the most outstanding amongst any affiliate, however has yet to be sufficiently rewarded. Bobby Wahl, after a dominant outing previous versus South Bend, appears tomorrow against Great Lakes in hopes of seldom seen run support. Iolana Akau, who has since been assigned to Wisconsin in response to Stephen Vogt's disabled list stint and Phil Pohl momentary ascent to Sacramento, suffered a thumb injury within his debut, similarly towards the thumb hindrance that squandered nearly his entire senior campaign and saw him plummet through the 2013 Draft eligibles, that places the probability of him appearing in another contest for Beloit in question. While the severity is unknown at the moment, Andy Paz still promises to acquire the majority of the Beloit backstop duties