Peters seals the deal for Yuba-Sutter
Friday, July 8, 2005 - The New York Yankees have Mariano Rivera, the San Diego Padres have Trevor Hoffman and the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox have Jason Peters.
“He's been almost lights out for us,” Gold Sox manager Brad Peek said of his closer after he pitched a perfect ninth inning for his sixth save of the year Thursday night in the 3-2 Yuba-Sutter win over the visiting Sacramento Scorch.
The win propelled the Gold Sox (17-6, 20-9) back into first place in the McCullough Division of the Horizon Air Summer Series standings, breaking a statistical tie with the Aloha Knights (15-5).
“Tonight we had everything we were missing last night,” said Peek.
The Gold Sox suffered their worst loss of the season and the worst loss in their collegiate franchise history Wednesday night - a 14-1 disaster in Vacaville at the hands of the Solano Thunderbirds.
But Thursday was a time to remember a more pleasant memory for the Gold Sox - the one year anniversary of Nick Waechter's no-hitter against Salinas - the only one in Gold Sox history.
And for a time it looked like Yuba-Sutter starter Kody Keroher might be able to turn the same trick. He allowed only one base runner through the first three innings and carried a no-hitter into the top of the fourth.
But any thought of repeating Waechter's performance quickly faded when Sacramento's Chris Rinaudo led off the inning with a double into the right-center field gap. A one-out Matt Long single drove him home to give Sacramento the 1-0 lead.
The Scorch then followed with a single and two walks to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Long from third to make it 2-0. Keroher then struck out Darrel Ivy and got Zeb Becker to ground to short to end the inning.
Sacramento starter Preston Guilmot also started the game strong, striking out six through four innings.
The Gold Sox finally came alive for three runs in the fifth.
Billy Krause got it started with a one-out single. He advanced to third after a passed ball and a Greg Thomas single before scoring from on a Matt Vance grounder. A.J. Valentine put the Gold Sox over the top with a two-run double down the left-field line to score Vance and Thomas.
It would be all the Gold Sox needed.
Steve Alverson relieved Keroher in the fifth. He held the Scorch to two hits and struck out four in his four innings of work. He also picked up the win to move to 2-1 on the season.
“He really saved us tonight,” said Peek.
Notes: The Gold Sox added Thomas of Mississippi Valley State University for Thursday's lineup. He went 1-3 in his first Gold Sox appearance. ... Peters' ERA is now at 0.47 to lead the team. ... Kyle Hill (3-0) will start tonight for the Gold Sox in the first of a three-game set against the Oakland Expos.
Nathan Collier can be reached at 741-2400. You may e-mail him at ncollier@appeal-democrat.com.
