The first game of the first championship series of the Pacific Empire League took an unexpected turn that now has the Prune Packers’ pitching staff re-evaluating their performance.
An eight-run ninth inning, capped by a three-run homer by pinch-hitter Jason Hanson, gave the home team Lincoln Potters an exhilarating victory over the heavily-favored Packers. The development gives the Potters a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-three series.
For much of the game, the predictable dominance by the Packers drove the McBean Field crowd close to despair. Although the Potters drew first blood with a first-inning run, the Prune Packers struck back with six runs in the second with two outs. Connor Charpiot’s home run with two on was the capstone, but the comfortable lead had the Packers dreaming of an easy path to victory.
But the Potters would not give up. They scored two in the third and another in the fourth, and the Packers could hear them breathing down their necks. As a result, the Healdsburg team mustered a four-run rally in the top of the sixth inning, as Camden Hayslip got his own three-run homer and the lead grew more comfortable, 10-4 at the outset of the late innings.
It stood at 12-5 when the ninth inning opened, and the Potters put Nolan Thebiay of Wilsonville, Oregon, on the mound for the final inning. He delivered, striking out Jonas Salk, Tommy Farmer and Cade Campbell—strong hitters all, their late plate appearances futile.
With the Potters down to their last half-inning, the Packers made what turned out to be a mistake, giving Tucker Bougie another chance to pitch out a game. Bougie had a clean appearance in relief in Sunday’s season finale at Rec Park against the Alameda Anchors, but this night was different. A walk and two singles produced the first run of the rally, then the proverbial wheels came off.
Four of the next five batters got hits, and the other was walked as the Packers lead began to erode. It stood at 12-10 when coach Joey Gomes finally had enough and asked Mason Lerma of Santa Rosa to take over the pitching and stop the bleeding.
Too little, too late. Hanson, from nearby Rocklin, looked at the first pitch outside then took the next one downtown—scoring the two runners on and coming across the plate himself into his mobbing teammates and an ovation from the Lincoln crowd, as the Potters won, 13-12.
It was an eerie echo of Sunday’s game in Healdsburg, when a bottom-of-the-ninth three-run homer from Tommy Farmer gave the Packers the 13-11 win. This time, the spotlight of victory fell on the other side.
Game Two of the series will be played at Rec Park on Thursday, Aug. 1, at 6pm. Barring a two-game sweep from the Potters, Game Three will take place Friday night, again at 6, unless the Lincoln Potters pull off another upset and sweep the series.
