Padres Down on the Farm: September 18 (Hinojosa homers as EP walks off/Merrill’s 4-hit day leads LE to Game 1 win of Cal League Championship)
CRedit: Deanna Gold/ EVT Sports
The San Diego Padres minor league affiliates went 2-1 on Sunday.
El Paso Chihuahuas (won 6-5 in 10) (80-61 on the season)
Matthew Batten: 2-for-4, RBI
C.J. Hinojosa: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
Thomas Milone: 2-for-4, R, BB, 2 RBI, walk-off single
Pedro Avila: 5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 4 K
The Chihuahuas went down early in this game, allowing a run in each of the first three innings. C.J. Hinojosa put El Paso on the board in the fifth with a solo home run, and the game was tied in the seventh after a bases-loaded walk and a Matthew Batten sacrifice fly. Down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Brandon Dixon tied the game on a sacrifice fly. Down again by one in the 10th, Hinojosa singled to tie it at five, and Thomas Milone walked it off with a single.
San Antonio Missions (lost 5-2) (68-68 on the season)
Ethan Skender: 3-for-5
Ripken Reyes: 2-for-3, R, RBI, 3B
Noel Vela: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, L (1-3)
After going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position on Friday, San Antonio struggled again on Sunday, going 2-for-13 with RISP. The Missions were shut out through the first eight innings. Noel Vela lasted only four innings, allowing three runs, and Amarillo scored a run in each the seventh and eighth innings to go up 5-0. San Antonio scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a Ripken Reyes triple and a Connor Hollis single.
Lake Elsinore Storm (won 13-2 in Game 1 of the Cal League Championship)
Jackson Merrill: 4-for-5, R, 4 RBI, 3 2B
Jakob Marsee: 2-for-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR
Juan Zabala: 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2 2B
Fernando Sanchez: 4.1 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 7 SO
Marcos Castanon: 2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, R
Lake Elsinore defeated the Fresno Grizzlies 13-2 in Game 1 of the Cal League Championship. After going down 1-0 in the second, the offense took off after that. Griffin Doersching doubled in the fourth to tie it, and Jakob Marsee hit a two-run home run to give the Storm a 3-1 lead. Lake Elsinore scored five runs in the fifth as Jackson Merrill hit a three-run double. They scored two in the sixth and three in the seventh behind a Merrill RBI double and a Marcos Castanon two-run home run to extend the lead to 13-2.
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Monday’s Probables:
El Paso: off
San Antonio: off (Division Series Game 1 on Tuesday @ Frisco)
Lake Elsinore: off (Game 2 of Championship on Tuesday @ Fresno)
Bobby is an Arizona State University alum and majored in Sports Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Fall 2023. Bobby is from San Diego, loves to write, and has a deep passion for baseball, football and basketball. He has co-hosted the “Devils Talking Padres” podcast and was a digital reporter and photographer for Cronkite News/Arizona PBS. He also broadcasted high school and junior college football games in Arizona as a play-by-play and color commentator.