By Dick Sparrer
The Pirates are the only unbeaten team remaining in the major division of the Los Gatos Little League this season. And the Bucs have the Expos to thank for it.
The Expos upset the Padres 6-3 last week to stick the Pads with their first loss of the young season.
Nick Nino tossed four shutout innings on his way to nailing down the pitching win for the Expos. Nino struck out 10 in his stint.
Kyle Schafer singled and doubled and scored three runs for the Expos. Ryan Daily had two hits and J.P. Bellotti ripped a double.
Bryan Schiefelbein was three-for-three with a double for the Padres and Ryan Johnson slapped a two-base hit.
The Padres came back to get a little revenge over the Expos with a 16-4 win on Saturday. Matt Cooke struck out five in three innings of work to get the win.
Johnson blasted a grand slam homer in the sixth and also singled for the Padres. Cooke and Peter Kizska had two hits apiece, Patrick Murphy doubled and Darien Hirotsu tripled.
Brian Miguel doubled for the Expos.
The Padres, now 5-1, opened the week with a 12-7 win over the Cubs.
Cooke was three-for-four with a double and scored four runs to lead the Padres to the win. He was also the winning pitcher.
Schiefelbein had three hits, Adam Crane belted two hits and Evan McDonald singled and doubled for the Pads.
Travis Howell singled and doubled for the Cubbies and William Lampe, Stephen Sweeney and Charlie Clark had two hits each. Aaron Goldfarb doubled.
The Pirates held on to the lead in the division with a 15-4 win over the Yankees. The Pirates are 5-0 this season.
Trent Edwards struck out all six of the batters he faced over the first two innings and Chris Eagen fanned five of six over the next two.
Eagen was three-for-three in the win and Edwards doubled twice and scored four runs. Trevor Branon doubled and singled twice.
Earlier in the season, Eagen had tossed three strong innings and ripped a pair of homers to lead the Pirates to a 14-10 win over the A's. Eagen blasted a grand slam in the second inning and belted a solo homer in the last of the sixth to tie the game.
The Giants won twice last week to improve to 4-1 in the division, beating the Marlins 13-4 and 10-9.
Chris McMorrow and Brian Desmaris each singled and doubled to lead the Giants to the 13-4 win over the Marlins. Chris Zanotto tripled for the Giants and Andy Betzina doubled.
Daniel Koch was two-for-two for the Marlins.
The Giants scored three runs in the last of the sixth to pull out the 10-9 win over the Marlins. Brian Stanton's two-run double in the sixth tied the game, and 9-year-old Eric Rollins doubled over the center fielder's head to drive in Stanton with the game-winner.
Ben Swartly had three hits for the winners and Zanotto and McMorrow had two hits apiece.
Blake Garrett flipped three shutout innings for the Marlins, fanning eight in his stint.
Jason Fetke doubled twice and singles for the Marlins and Koch singled and doubled. Adam Davis had two hits and Garrett ripped a triple.
The Indians moved to 3-1 for the year with a 7-3 win over the A's. Daniel Holtzman went four innings to get the win, striking out nine along the way. Sean Pinner doubled for the winners.
Derrick Tam had two hits and Adam Nelson doubled in the loss for the A's.
In other action, the Rangers edged the Cubs 6-4, scoring three runs in the sixth inning.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, April 10, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved