Monday, Aug. 31, 2009

Dust Devils bats take a night off

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

PASCO — The Tri-City Dust Devils earned a hearty celebration after Saturday night's East Division-clinching win over Boise in front of a packed Gesa Stadium crowd.

Sadly, the 1,793 fans in attendance Sunday in Pasco were forced to watch the painful after-effects in a 2-1 loss to the Hawks.

Dust Devils manager Fred Ocasio was glad to take advantage of an opportunity to rest some key players for the Northwest League championship series beginning Sept. 7 — including the team's top two run producers in Tim Wheeler and Bo Bowman.

The results, however, were disastrous for a Tri-City offense that produced just two hits against a team that had lost six straight coming in.

That said, it may be a good move by Ocasio to trade an eight-game win streak for a little bit of recuperation time before beginning the big push toward the NWL championship against the Volcanoes.

"We were a little flat out there, but we expected that to happen," Ocasio said. "We celebrated pretty late last night. You have to give them a day to be like that and then get back into it."

There are seven games remaining in the regular season before the Dust Devils (42-27) and Volcanoes (43-26) square off for the NWL title in a best-of-5 series.

Games 1 and 2 will be Sept. 7 and 8 at Gesa Stadium, both at 7:15 p.m. Tickets will be available at the Dust Devils ticket office daily beginning at 9 a.m. until the NWL series begins.

Game 3 will be held at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Ore., on Sept. 9, followed by Games 4 and 5, if neccessary.

On Sunday, Boise relivers Austin Kirk and Danny Keefe combined to allow just one hit over the final six inings. Kirk (1-0), a third-round pick by Chicago Cubs, collected his NWL win while Keefe picked up his fourth save with three scoreless innings in relief.

Hawks manager Casey Kopitzke said it was tough to watch the Dust Devils clinch the East against them a night before, but it also provided a lesson.

"It was good for us to see what it's like on the other side of the field, to see the excitement that comes with a division title," Kopitzke said. "We've been struggling to put ball games together, so it was good to see us come out like that."

Ben Paulsen gave Tri-City a 1-0 lead in the third inning, driving in Joey Wong with a two-out RBI single to center field.

Both starters -- Dan Perkins for the Dust Devils and Trey McNutt for the Hawks -- each allowed just one hit through the first three innings, but Boise took a 2-1 lead in the fifth off reliever Brad McAtee (2-4).

Justin Bour and D.J. Fitzgerald each had three hits to lead the Hawks, which had 11 hits but left 15 runners on base.

"Tonight was a tough loss," said Paulsen, who returned from a sore neck that kept him out of the lineup for a week. "We had a chance to win. We were in the ball game the whole time."

Paulsen doesn't believe the loss will take too much of the team's momentum away.

"I think we'll just keep going after this," he said. "All the guys on the team can turn it on."

Note: The top of the seventh innning featured three fine defensive plays by Tri-City. 1B Paulsen fielded a tough grounder on the short hop and beat Bobby Wagner to first for the put out. He then leaped high in the air to glove Greg Rohan's soft liner for the second out. Finally, after two straight singles, RF Leonardo Reyes grabbed D.J. Fitzgerald's single to right field on the run and threw out Justin Bour trying to score from second to end the inning.