Gold Sox win 17th straight in hit fest

It wasn't a good night to be a pitcher. Thursday, before 1,111 fans, on a comfortable evening with a light breeze, the Marysville Gold Sox and Sacramento Legends made their game a batting practice session under the lights.

Thirty combined hits. Liners, homers, dribblers, infield singles — they came in all varieties during a 14-9 Gold Sox victory to kick off the last homestand of the season.

"That's a creepy ballgame," Marysville manager Jack Johnson said. "It was a great day to be a hitter; you don't want any part of that mound."

Gold Sox starter Josh Wedesky lasted three innings after scattering four hits and walking four more. It was even worse for the Legends' Brian Kennedy, though. Standing all of 5-foot-5, the Sacramento City College hurler was left on the mound for 62⁄3 innings — well after Marysville's offense woke up and started cranking the ball.

In the first three frames, Marysville (36-8-1) couldn't get out of its own way. They grounded into three double plays and could have gone down for four if the Legends' second baseman didn't bobble a surefire 4-6-3 ball.

It created a situation where the Sox entered the bottom of the fourth inning down 5-0. No worries, there was Tyler Kuresa and Brock Neil answering with doubles to spark a hitting spree that lasted four innings and plated 13 runs.

The highlights: Michael Cerda's leadoff homer in the fifth; Brock Neil's two-run home run to right two batters later; and Daniel Russell's — he entered the game hitting a team-low .212 — go-ahead three-RBI double in the sixth to put the Sox ahead for good.

Neil was 3 for 5 with four RBIs and Kuresa went 4 for 5 with two doubles to lead the Sox.

In 45 games this season, Johnson's never seen the ball hit harder. And it all helped produce a 17th consecutive win for the McCullough Division champions of the Horizon Air Summer Series.

"Our hitters came out in the middle innings and crushed it," Johnson said.