Although the Cavalier baseball team had the night off last night to travel down to Durham, some of their alums had pretty impressive nights. From DC, to Mississippi, to California, the Cavaliers have quite the presence in Major and Minor League baseball.
Out in the California League, John Hicks and Steven Proscia are playing for the High Desert Mavericks, the High-A team for the Seattle Mariners. Last night they hosted the Inland Empire 66ers (Great name. Rumor has it the Nats are thinking about changing their name to the Route Ones) in quite the pitcher's duel. The Mavericks outlasted the 66ers 14-8, but none of you reading this care. What's more important is that John Hicks helped out his team going 1-4 with a walk while scoring two runs. Not a bad night I'd say. He was only outshone by his partner in crime Proscia who went 4-5 with THREE RUNS, FIVE RBI, AND THREE HOME RUNS. Yes, three home runs. One game. Five at bats. Seattle is currently trying to figure out how to get the team charter out of Seattle to wherever "High Desert" actually is (I'm not sure either).
Down in Mississippi, the Hoos had two former teammates in another battle, but this time they were squaring off against one another. The AA Jackson Generals (Mariners) and Danny Hultzen hosted the Mississippi Braves (Braves' AA) and Phil Gosselin. If you don't remember, Danny was taken #2 overall last year. A fact I am sure nobody has actually forgotten. Phil didn't have the greatest of nights going 0-2, but he did walk twice and was only three Braves to get an at bat last night that didn't strike out (win in my book). The star of the night was no doubt Danny. Hultzen pitched 6.1 innings while only allowing two hits and two walks. He struck out five and actually had a perfect game in to the fourth before a bunt single.
In AAA, Brandon Guyer and the Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays) traveled to the Charlotte Knights (White Sox). Guyer was the standout in the Bull's loss registering three hits in four at bats. He also paced the Bulls with a run scored and an RBI. Guyer has struggled a bit so far this season so it is good to see him come out of his shell.
In the bigs, the Nats hosted the Astros for the last time as a member of the National League. That didn't matter to Zim who went big fly in the third inning. The three run blast was his first of the year and brought the Nats to within two runs before ultimately letting the AAA Astros 11-4
Oh, and the Braves beat the Diamondbacks 10-2.