Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009

Dust Devils off to best start in club history

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

PASCO -- Michael Zuanich hit his last home run May 12, so he wasn't exactly sure if the ball he hit off Vancouver reliever Justin Street on Friday night had enough juice to get out of Gesa Stadium.

By the way, that was May 12 of 2008, and Zuanich hit it a month before getting drafted by the Colorado Rockies while at UC-Santa Barbara, where he was a teammate of former Dust Devils infielder Patrick Rose.

But Tri-City Dust Devils fans can put Zuanich, a 6-foot-4 first baseman, on the board for the first round-tripper of 2009, a three-run shot with two outs in the fourth inning that sparked the Dust Devils to an 8-3 win over the Canadians.

"I wasn't sure it would get out, especially after watching (Kent) Matthes' shot Tuesday," Zuanich said of a towering drive to center field that ran out of gas at the warning track in the home opener.

But Zuanich, who went homerless in 81 at-bats as a rookie at Casper (Wyo.) last season, lined Street's first-pitch fastball on a hard, low arc over the left center-field wall to put Tri-City up 7-0.

"I like to swing at the first pitch," he said. "I was just looking for a ball middle-in, and his first pitch came in belly high."

Tri-City returned to its winning ways a day after Vancouver snapped a five-game winning streak to open the Northwest League season and continues its best start in team history. The 2002 Tri-City team was 4-2 through the first six games.

"I'm surprised (the homer) took this long, but it gave us a comfortable lead," said Tri-City manager Fred Ocasio. "It was a good game. There were a couple of double plays we didn't turn, but we'll work on that (today). We need to play solid defense."

Matt Baugh, a teammate of Zuanich's at Casper last season, got Tri-City off to a strong start, tossing four innings of three-hit ball. The 6-1 left-hander threw mostly fastballs, but he kept hitters off balance by mixing in a solid changeup and a curve.

"My last start (four runs in 2 2/3 innings) I tried to do too much," said Baugh, who struck out eight. "But I was locating my fastball much better today. It was good enough to beat them."

Eric Federico (2-0) picked up the win for the Dust Devils, allowing a run in three innings.

The Tri-City offense that averaged 11 runs and 13 hits through the first three games in Boise seemed to return to life. Tri-City had 11 hits, nine of them singles, and three players -- Scott Beerer, Jeremiah Sammy and Joseph Sanders -- each had two hits and combined for four runs scored.

Sammy, a free-agent infielder out of Lamar, improved his average to .318 with his two hits, but he was a little concerned about not converting double plays in the sixth and eighth innings.

Sammy feels he's got a small margin for error as a free agent and that he must make the most of any chance he gets to play.

"I'm new to second base, but no excuses," Sammy said. "I've just got to make the routine plays and everything will be all right."

-- NOTE: Tri-City OF Shane Lowe went 1-for-3 but reached base three times. He was hit by pitches in the third and fourth inning, stole two bases and scored twice.