Orioles split week's games

The Glenns Ferry Orioles split road games at Centennial and Kuna last week, winning at Centennial, but losing at Kuna.

Glenns Ferry 6

Centennial 3

The Orioles won for the fourth time in five games when they downed the Centennial Cannons 6-3 on July 13 at Centennial.

Glenns Ferry scored single runs in the first three innings to take a 3-1 lead, but got to Orioles starter Brian Fields for two runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 3-3.

Scott Arellano came on in relief and shut down the Cannons on just two hits the rest of the night, while striking out seven batters.

Bubba Johnson provided the offensive spark for the Orioles, smashing a double and knocking in three runs. Jason Simons had two hits and an RBI, and Brett Young cracked a solo home run, his third of the season. Jeff Hernandez had a double and scored two runs, and Scott Arellano and David Zito also had hits, and Michael DesPres had an RBI.

Orioles head coach Denis Uhl was pleased to get the win, which avenged an early season 6-4 loss to Centennial at Glenns Ferry.

"It was a great win. Bubba Johnson had a great game -- what did he have, three RBIs? We got some timely hitting and great defense -- two big double plays that were huge, and Pee Wee (Scott Arellano) came in and shut them down, so it was a great team effort! I'm real pleased!"

Kuna 7

Glenns Ferry 1

The Kuna Diamondbacks erupted for six runs in the third inning on their way to a 7-1 win over the Orioles on July 15 at Kuna.

The Orioles had taken a 1-0 lead in the second inning, as a bloop single by Michael DesPres scored Jeff Hernandez, who had reached on an error. In the bottom half of the second, DesPres struck out the side, and things were looking good for the Orioles at that point.

In the bottom of the third, however, DesPres struggled finding the plate, walking the bases full before recording an out. A single scored one run, but errors in the outfield led to four runs scoring, and a couple more walks, an error and a hit produced two more runs before DesPres picked off a base runner to end the inning.

Scott Arellano replaced DesPres on the mound the rest of the way and did not allow any hits while giving up just one run, but Glenns Ferry was not able to produce any more runs due to some great defensive efforts by the Diamondbacks.

Coach Uhl lamented the defensive miscues that contributed to the loss.

"I think they had two earned runs, and you figure 2-1 the last part of the game, we're in it, but when you give up five unearned runs, it's tough. Being lazy out there, and not communicating once again, we had our problems. We've just got to start communicating and start playing heads-up baseball, and we're not. We're not getting runners on because we're not being aggressive at the plate and we're not swinging at good pitches, and it cost us."

Michael DesPres had two hits and an RBI for Glenns Ferry. Scott Arellano, Bubba Johnson, Jason Simons and Aaron Swartz also had hits for the Orioles. DesPres suffered the loss, his first against four wins, despite goiving up just four hits. He struck out four and walked five in three innings of work. Scott Arellano struck out four and walked three in his three innings on the mound.

The loss evened the Orioles league mark at 11-11, and put them at 17-11 overall.