Michael Oros pitched seven innings and picked up his second win of the season on Wednesday night.
Despite being down 3-0 after two innings of play, the Victoria Generals were able to come back to beat the Alexandria Aces 8-4 on Wednesday night.
The game started out ugly for the Generals as starting pitcher Michael Oros issued three walks in the first inning to load the bases. Third baseman Ryan Dalton then made an error on a ground ball with two outs in the inning to allow two runs to score.
The second inning didn't turn out much better than the first for the Generals. Right fielder Chad Kruse misplayed a fly ball before a double drove in the runner from first and the Generals quickly found themselves in a 3-0 hole.
With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Jake Runte launched his first home run of the season, a solo shot to left field, to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Generals would tie the score at 3-3 with two runs in the fourth inning. Dalton led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by Trent Wagner. Dalton later scored on a balk by the Aces pitcher and Wagner scored on an RBI single by Grayson Porter.
The Generals then broke the game open with five runs in an eventful sixth inning. Dalton led off with a single, and then with one out John Longoria was hit by a pitch and awarded first base. Aces head coach Freddy Rodriguez came out to argue the call with the home plate umpire, claiming that Longoria had leaned out over the plate. After a heated debate, the umpire ejected Rodriguez. Rodriguez continued to get his money's worth and the Aces bench chimed in as well. Aces' Assistant General Manager Billy Pilgrim who was in the dugout keeping stats was sent packing as well by the umpiring crew.
After the dust settled, the Porter delivered a two-run double to left-centerfield to give the Generals a 5-3 lead. Later in the inning, Kruse drove a ball into left-centerfield with the bases loaded to score two more runs. Clay Cunningham came around to score on a wild pitch in the inning to make the score 8-3.
After Oros's rocky start, he settled into a grove and mowed through the Aces lineup. Oros would exit after seven innings, allowing just three runs, none of which were earned, on three hits while striking out four. Oros picked up his second win of the season.
Generals newcomer Dallas Ponder made his season debut in the eighth inning and retired the Aces in order with two strikeouts in the inning. He came back out and pitched the ninth as well, and allowed one run on two hits to make the final score 8-4.
The Generals improved to 22-24 overall and 10-7 in the second-half. The Aces fell to 12-32 overall and 3-13 in the second-half.
The Generals and Aces will meet again on Thursday night for game two of the two-game series at 7:05pm at Riverside Stadium in Victoria. It will be Thirsty Thursday at the Generals game. Draft beer will be $1 all night long. There will be a post-game concert at the stadium by The Revival.
Box Score:
http://tcl-generals.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=58430
Video:
http://crossroadstoday.com/Generals-Start-Homestand-With-Win/10469928
