Heart of Saguaros Lineup Crushes Roswell’s Soul 10-6
The heart of the order had a game for the ages, as Nathan Etheridge, Chris Caffery, and Danny Kerr each homered and drove in three runs to lead the Tucson Saguaros to a 10-6 victory over the Roswell Invaders. The 4-6 hitters combined for five runs, five hits, and nine RBI in helping Tucson to become the first team to reach 20 victories this season. Cody Early earned his third win.
Tucson took the lead right away in the top of the first. Christopher Eusay led off the game by drawing a walk. He stole second and moved to third on a base hit by Erwin Real. Etheridge, who had been named as the Minor League Sports Report Player of the Week earlier in the day, then grounded out, bringing home Eusay. After Caffery walked, Danny Kerr clubbed his third homerun of the season, a three-run blast that gave the Saguaros a 4-0 lead.
In the third, Tucson extended their lead to five when Etheridge delivered his fourth homerun of the year. However, Roswell battled back to pull within one in the bottom of the frame. Three walks loaded the bases for Ian Yetsko, who drilled a grand slam for his fifth homerun of the season.
In the fifth, the Saguaros restored their lead. Eusay led off with a triple. Two batters later, Real singled to bring home the runner. A walk to Etheridge put two on with one down, and Caffery cleared the bases with his third homer of the year.
The Invaders got two of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. Back-to-back singles by Taichi Nakamura and Coleton Horner started the inning. Both runners moved up on a double steal. That allowed Nakamura to come home on a sacrifice fly and Horner scored on a single by Yetsko, his fifth run driven in of the day.
Tucson closed out the scoring with one more run in the top of the ninth inning. Real singled with two down and scored on a double by Etheridge. That made it 10-6.
Etheridge finished 2-4 with two runs scored and three RBI. Caffery was 1-4 with two runs scored and three RBI, and Kerr finished 2-3 with a run and three RBI. Real had three hits and three runs scored for Tucson.
Yetsko finished 2-4 with a run in five RBI for the Invaders. Horner had a perfect day, going to-two with two runs scored and three walks.
The victory moved the Tucson Saguaros to 20-2 as they continue to dominate the Pecos League.
By Robert Pannier
