Ford's four-baggers lead Royals past Rays

PRINCETON — The Burlington Royals left town with their Ford in tow. That is fine with the Princeton Rays.

Fred Ford clubbed two more home runs, including a grand slam, for his fourth long ball in three games to lead the Royals to a 10-3 Appalachian League win over the Rays in front of 1,038 spectators at Hunnicutt Field.

“That guy has killed us. I think he ended up with four home runs against us,” Princeton manager Michael Johns said. “It was just one of those nights.

“We didn’t play bad, we got down early and it is hard to hit from there, but they did a good job, swung the bats well, give them credit.”

Burlington (15-8), which hadn’t played for nearly a week prior to Sunday’s doubleheader in Princeton because of rain, leads the circuit with 30 home runs this season.

“We got rained out five straight games,” Burlington manager Tommy Shields said. “It is very rough. We got rained out once at home and then we had the day off and we were rained out three times in Johnson City and once here.

“They were ready to go, but when you haven’t seen live pitching in a while, it is tough.”

Apparently that rustiness didn’t last. Ford hit two home runs — and drove in five runs — to give him seven on the season, while Patrick Leonard clubbed a two-run blast in the first to give him a league-leading eighth on the campaign.

“We had seven days off and I think they have been rusty since and last night we didn’t swing the bats that well,” Shields said. “Tonight we swung it a lot better so I think we are getting our timing back.”

That was definitely true for Ford. A seventh round draft choice in June out of Jefferson College in Missouri, Ford clubbed a home run in each of Sunday’s two games in Princeton, and finished the three-game series with six hits in 10 at-bats, including four homers, seven runs batted, four runs scored and a walk.

“He really had a great series for us,” Shields said, “picked us up big.”

Princeton (14-13) was held to six hits by four Burlington pitchers. Pat Conroy picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the season. Among the relievers were Mark Peterson, a free agent signee from Radford University, who replaced Conroy in the sixth. Yender Caramo and Freddy Rodriguez also saw action on the mound.

William Gabay made his first professional start for Princeton and took the loss, falling to 2-1. Daniel Bream and Joan Guerrero worked in relief for the Rays.

Bubba Starling, a first round pick by Kansas City last June, turned down a scholarship offer to play football at Nebraska to take his talents to the diamond. He had two singles in five at-bats, scoring a pair of runs and striking out twice.

“I think he is doing well. He is going to go through the ups and downs like everyone else,” Shields said. “Everyone reads Bubba Starling and they think he is going to get the triple crown, but he has got to go through it like everybody else.”

Starling reached on a two-out single against Gabay in the first and Leonard followed with a line drive over the left field fence for the 2-0 lead. Leonard was a fifth round draft choice last June from a Texas high school.

“He hit a hard one,” Johns said.

Gabay had posted a 2.38 ERA in six games out of the bullpen, but allowed seven runs and five hits in 2 1/3 innings against the Royals.

“We got messed up with two rainouts and we had an off day and (Jacob) Faria had a little bit of a bum arm so (Gabay) was the guy that has been built up to start and that is why we chose him,” Johns said. “He will be okay, he is probably better in the bullpen, but it was good to see him get his first start.”

Princeton, which was led by Reid Redman and James Harris Jr. with two hits apiece, answered with a run in the first on a double to left by Brandon Martin and Willie Argo reached on an infielder grounder to narrow the gap to 2-1.

Burlington put the game away in the third with five runs on three hits and a pair of walks. Terrance Gore and Humberto Arteaga collected one-out singles, and after Starling lined out to first baseman John Alexander, Gabay walked Leonard to load the bases and Kenny Diekroeger drew a walk to force in a run.

Ford followed with a long fly ball over the center field fence for a grand slam and the 7-1 lead. He also clubbed an opposite field fly over the right field fence to increase the margin to 8-1 in the fifth.

“We tried to get in on him and we missed a ball over the plate and then he made us pay,” Johns said. “Later on in the game we kind of figured him out with breaking balls a little bit, but they have got a good lineup, it is not just him.

“They’ve got a good hitting lineup, they have got a good team.”

Princeton narrowed the gap to 8-2 in the sixth when Redman singled and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Alexander. Burlington added a run on the game’s lone error in the seventh, and reached double digits in the ninth on a wild pitch from Guerrero.

The Rays got on the board in the bottom of the ninth when Daniel Duran reached on a two-out single and Harris followed with a triple down the right field line.

Burlington, which out-hit Princeton 9-7, will host first place Danville tonight in the first of a three-game series. The Braves lead the Royals by one game in the East Division standings.

Shields has been pleased with the play of the Royals so far this season.

“They have played well and we have got a big series coming up with Danville,” said Shields, whose Royals got two hits each from Ford, Starling and Arteaga. “A big rivalry with Danville, they are in first and we are in second so it is a big series.”

Princeton will travel to Bowen Field for the first of five straight games tonight against Bluefield (9-16) in what will be the first of 11 games in the Mercer Cup series this season. The Blue Jays lead the head-to-head matchup between Mercer County foes 12-8, including last year’s competition.

Princeton will send Kevin James (1-1) to the mound tonight against Bluefield’s Roberto Osuna (1-0).

“(The Royals) are good, they have got some fresh arms, they had a week off so they were full boar, but we will be OK,” Johns said. “We are looking forward to playing tomorrow and getting the Mercer Cup started.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

At Hunnicutt Field

Burlington…………..205 010 101 — 10 9 0

Princeton……………100 001 001 — 3 7 1

Patrick Conroy, Mark Peterson (6), Yender Caramo (7), Freddy Rodriguez (9) and Beau Maggi. William Gabay, Daniel Bream (3), Joan Guerrero (7) and Oscar Hernandez. W—Conroy (3-0); L—Gabay (2-1). HR—Patrick Leonard (8), Fred Ford 2 (7). Time—2:26. Att—1,038.

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Ford's four-baggers lead Royals past Rays

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