July 1: Goldeyes Win Big But Lose All-Star Wes Long

Tuesday night at Canwest Park had all the ingredients for a perfect summer night in downtown Winnipeg.

There was an overflow crowd of 7,536 in attendance, the fireworks were primed and ready to be blown to the sky and the Goldeyes bats were booming. In fact, the Fish pounded out 18 hits and got a great start from Andrew Cruse en route to a 16-4 shellacking of the Schaumburg Flyers.

This was a night that could not be spoiled.

At least, not until the third inning.

That’s when Flyers catcher Richard Mercado took out Goldeyes shortstop Wes Long with a hard slide – Shaw TV replays showed Mercado was well inside the baseline and a long way off the bag – that broke Long’s ankle and sent the all-star shortstop to the sidelines for at least six weeks and perhaps for the rest of the season.

“I guess the guy (Mercado) was just playing the game hard,” said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney. “We just have to hope and pray for Wes, he’s a great player, maybe we can get him back by the end of the season.”

The injury occurred on a terrific double play started by first baseman Cody Ehlers. Ehlers backhanded a ground ball off the bat of Flyers centre fielder Travis Ezi. Ehlers stepped on first and threw a strike to Long covering second. With the force-out off, Long had to tag Mercado, but the throw arrived so early, Long had plenty of time to apply the tag and get out of the way.

But that’s when Mercado inexplicably slid away from the base and right through Long. Long went high into the air and landed in obvious pain. He was helped from the field and taken to Concordia Hospital where x-rays showed that his left ankle was fractured.

“Mercado couldn’t see what was behind him and he was just sliding in hard to break up the double play,” said Schaumburg manager Mike Busch. “He just plays the game hard. It was one of those things.”

Despite the devastating loss of Long, the first-place Goldeyes still played an outstanding ball game and with the win, improved to 27-12 on the season. Winnipeg remained six-and-a-half games ahead of second-place Fargo.

Winnipeg put up three runs in the first inning, eight more in the second and one in the third to take a quick 12-0 lead.

Designated hitter Juan Diaz had a big night, going two-for-four with three runs scored and three driven in; Kevin West had a solid game, going for three-for-four with three runs scored and two RBI and Dee Brown had another outstanding game, going two-for-four with three RBI. Brown, the current player of the week in the Northern League is also the league’s leading hitter with a .382 average.

Meanwhile, second baseman Josh Asanovich went four-for-six with four runs scored and Cory Patton went two-for-four with one run scored and two driven in. Every Goldeyes starter had at least one hit and everyone but Brown scored a run.

But perhaps the best story was written by young starter Andrew Cruse, who pitched seven strong innings, allowed only two runs on seven scattered hits and struck out seven while improving to 3-3 on the season. He did it, despite having to sit in the dugout for more than 30 minutes in the bottom of the second as the Goldeyes put up eight runs.

“It was great to get the win,” said Cruse, Shaw TV’s player of the game. “I had good command all night and felt great. Whenever it’s my turn, I just want to make sure I go out there and give my team a chance to win.”

The Goldeyes and Flyers will wrap up this three-game series this afternoon at Canwest Park with a 4:00 Canada Day start.