Sacramento Series Recap

Hendersonville, Tn  - This is one of the matchups that most fans around the league have circled since the schedules came out.  The Hitmen have been dubbed as "The Evil Empire" after winning the title in 2010 have fielded the top team in VBL6 the last 2 seasons while Branda's plan from day 1 was wait for year 3 to make a run.  Well, it's year 3 and Branda has put a very impressive squad together for the 2012 seasons making him one of the top 3 favorites to win the ML.  Despite all their talent the Mentalists enter this weekend series on a 2-8 skid while the Hitmen are on a 11-3 run.

Mentalists 7, Hitmen 4

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Sac      (7-10)	6	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		7	10	1
H'ville   (11-5)	0	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	0		4	6	0

W: L: SV:

J. Sanders, 1-2 N. Chong, 0-2 J. Martinez, 4

Game 1 Recap:  This one was ugly from the start.  Nam-cheol "Million Dollar" Chong was 15-7 with a 3.70 ERA last year before getting injured in the last game of the season.  Since then Chong has struggled in Spring Training and it has carried over into the regular season.  Chong only recorded 2 outs as he gave up 6 runs on 6 hits in the 1st inning.  The bullpen was awesome as they only gave up 1 R on 4 hits over 8.1 innings.
Sac's DH Paul Miller hit 2 HR's while going 3-4, 2 HRs (5), 4 RBI, 2 R

Mentalists 2, Hitmen 4

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Sac      (8-10)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1		2	9	0
H'ville   (11-6)	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	x		4	6	0

W: L: SV:

W. Bamber, 4-0 D. Lewis, 1-3 M. Griffin, 9

Game 2 Recap: Walter "The Claw" Bamber was awesome once again going 8.0 innings and holding the Mentalists to only 1 ER while striking out 8.  The Hitmen only had 6 hits but 5 of them were XBH (2x 2B, 3x 3B).  Rookie CF Luis Padilla went 1-2, 3B, 1 RBI, 2 BB and leads the team in hitting with a .318 avg.  CL Martin Griffin notched his ML leading 9th save of the year, but not before the Mentalists' Júlio Cedeño hit a 9th inning HR.  It was the first run allowed by Griffin this season.

Mentalists 2, Hitmen 6

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Sac      (8-11)	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0		2	8	0
H'ville   (12-6)	4	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	x		6	11	1

W: L: SV:

Scott Hill, 4-0 R. De Jesús, 0-1 None

Game 3 Recap: After splitting the first two games both teams entered game 3 looking for the series win.  The Hitmen sent Scott "The Franchise" Hill to the mound in pursuit of his 4th win of the season.  Hill only managed to go 5.2 innings, but he struck out a season high 9 batters and allowed 2 ER on 5 hits.  That turned out to be plenty as the offense pushed across 6 runs on 11 hits.  DH Manny Copriviza's 3-run HR in 1st inning was got the offense going.  1B Tommy Green went 3-4 while 2B Pedro Valdéz, CF Luis Padilla, and C Francisco Díaz all go 2-4.


Series MVP: CF Luis Padilla hit .300 (3-10), HR (2), 2 RBI, 3B, 2 BB, 3 R scored


Injury: No new injuries
LF Gregg Burkholder (fractured foot, out for 5 more days).


Notes:
- Green has a 9-game hitting streak and has raised his BA from .200 to .325 during streak
- Green has 3 3-hit games in his last 9 games


Next Up:
April 22 vs
April 23 vs
April 24 vs
April 25 vs