Groundhogs Score 25 Times, Squeak by Cowboys June 18, 1999
Calgary, Alberta, CA (AP)
Usually, when a team scores 25 runs, you can be pretty sure that they blew
out the opposition. But not in Calgary, the land of the homerun. In one of
the oddest games the Groundhogs ever played, Punxatawney won 25-20 and
starter Rocky Coppinger threw a complete game, allowing 17 earned runs.
This writer won't even try to figure out who scored when from this boxscore!
All really we know is that Punxatawney scored 8 times in the second and
fourth while Calgary scored in each of the first 5 innings. After a
scoreless 6th and 7th, Punxatawney took a 16-11 lead into the final two
frames. They scored 3 in the 8th while Calgary scored 5. And then in the
9th, the Hogs added 6 more for 25 total, and the Cowboys, not to be outdone,
also reached the 20-mark with 5 more of their own.
Even more amazingly, all 9 of the hitters in the Groundhogs homered and had
at least 2 hits, 1 run, and 1 RBI. 4 different players had at least 4 RBI
while Ryan Klesko had 5. The team hit a grand total of 11 homers while the
Cowboys hit 10, including 3 by Kevin Elster. Ryan Klesko and Dave Martinez
were the two hogs which had 2 homers. Every Hog except Alex Ochoa and
Roberto Kelly had 3 hits or more.
"It was the same all game for both of us," said Klesko. "Ball comes in, and
ball goes out over the fence. This field is ridiculous. We logged more
time taking homerun trots than we did playing baseball."
Meanwhile, while the hitters were having a field day hitting longball after
longball, the pitchers suffered.
Glendon Rusch lasted just 1 1/3 innings for Calgary, allowing 7 earned runs.
He was relieved by Hal Cruz, who allowed "just" 9 runs over the next 5 2/3
innings on 13 hits. Larry Scott threw the final 2 innings for Calgary,
allowing 9 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks.
Meanwhile, Punxatawney only used 1 pitcher for the entire game. Staff ace
Rocky Coppinger needed only 179 pitches to throw the complete game, which is
quite remarkable considering he allowed 20 runs, 17 earned, on 17 hits.
"He was efficient," said manager Dan Shapiro. "He threw the ball, and they
either hit a flyout to the warning track or hit a homerun on every pitch."
Shapiro said he stuck with Coppinger to "give his bullpen a rest."
"I wanted to pitch," said Coppinger, who saw his ERA shoot up to over 3.50
from below 2.00. "I figured it was a free win and I could experiment a
little bit with some new pitches I worked on last week."
The win improved Punxatawney's record to 38-28 and maintained their 3.5 game
lead. However, it is no longer Springfield chasing the Hogs--Houston has
pushed ahead of the slumping Atoms, who have lost 6 straight while
Punxatawney has won 4 in a row and Houston has won 3.
Springfield will visit Punxatawney for their next series and inner-division
play will resume.
Stats 'n Stuff
After the Calgary series, the Punxatawney offense looks far more formidable.
Almost every starter has double-digit homeruns now, or is close to it. Only
Jason Giambi, currently nursing an injury, and Dan Wilson, who has missed 2
weeks due to injury, have not hit at least 10 homeruns.
Ryan Klesko and Tony Batista lead the offense, each having over 60 runs
created. Klesko has slugged 19 homers, ranking him 9th in the DL. Not
surprisingly, there are 4 Calgary Cowboys, 2 Larimer Knights, and a Spokane
Pirate ranked ahead of him, making him one of the top homerun hitters in a
park which is not offense-dominated. Batista has continued to spark the
offense, hitting a team-best .329 with 22 doubles, 4 triples, 13 homers, and
11 steals--all while playing flawless defense.
Youngster Scott Rolen is hitting .302 with 10 homers, greatly improving on
his sophomore slump season. Dan Wilson is finally coming into his own as a
offensive powerhouse, hitting .309 with 8 homers in 49 games.
In fact, every starter except the injured Jason Giamni is now hitting .275
or better! However, the pitcher staff is a bit weaker "looking" with Rocky
Coppinger's ERA shooting up to 3.63. Bergman is 6-3 with a 1.56 ERA and
Mike Hampton continues to impress as a starter, now holding a 4-0 record and
a 2.23 ERA.
"The whole team is playing great, and we're playing as a team. If we can
keep this up, we'll be tough to beat," said Hampton.
