On Thursday afternoon in the Arizona Fall League, the Surprise Saguaros took on first place Peoria. The Saguaros trailed the 10-2 Javelinas by 3.5 games in the standings coming into this game. Trailing 4-2 going into the ninth inning, Surprise rallied for five runs and a 7-5 victory.
Two Pirates were in the starting lineup on Thursday. Eric Wood was at third base and batted fifth, while Connor Joe was the DH and batted seventh. Wood came into the day with a .400 average, which had him tied with Jin-De Jhang for the third best average in the league.
Wood popped out to shortstop in his first at-bat. He struck out swinging to end the fourth inning and again to start the seventh inning. Wood came up representing the tying run in the ninth inning with two outs. He walked, putting runners on the corners, then scored two batters later. He finished the day 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Joe walked to lead-off the third inning. He was the first base runner for Surprise. He stole second base, then scored on a triple. Joe struck out swinging in the fifth inning, then flew out to right field to end the seventh inning. Joe came up in the ninth inning with a 4-3 score, two outs and two men on base. He singled to bring home Eric Wood with the tying run. Joe would scored two batters later on a homer. He finished the day 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI.
Montana DuRapau came on in the sixth inning with Surprise trailing 4-2. He walked the first batter on ten pitches, then struck out the next hitter on four pitches. He got the next batter to foul out to first base. DuRapau gave up a two-out single to put men on first and second, before getting out of the inning on a grounder to second base. He needed 26 pitches to get through the inning. In five appearances, he has allowed five runs on eight hits and four walks in five innings.
Surprise next plays on Friday afternoon in Scottsdale. We will have live coverage of the AFL starting on Tuesday. Tim Williams will cover four games, plus the Fall-Stars game, which will be played at Surprise Stadium next Saturday.
