May 24: Walker Brilliant, Diaz Hits Third Home Run in an as Many Days, as Fish drill Fielders 7-1

After Lake County lead-off man Amos Ramon opened the game with a double, Winnipeg Goldeyes starting pitcher Ace Walker stepped off the mound and took a breath.

“My first thought was ‘Oh, no, not this again,’ so I stepped off the mound and said to myself, ‘Not this time’,” Walker said shortly after leading the Winnipeg Goldeyes to a 7-1 victory over the visiting Lake County Fielders.

“Last year, if anyone was going to get to me, they’d get to me in the first or the fifth innings. After that guy hit the double, I just thought, ‘No way, not this time. It’s going to be different. I have to be better.’

“I have such a good defence behind me and I know I’ll get help at the plate from my guys. I wasn’t going to put us in a hole early.”

He didn’t. In fact, after Ramon’s double, Walker was almost perfect.

In the end he pitched seven complete innings, allowed no runs on only two hits, walked one and struck out five as the 2009 Northern League Pitcher of the Year mowed down the Fielders to claim his first victory of the season the Goldeyes third win in a row.

“I probably could have gone longer but I know I was on a pitch count,” Walker said. “I think the pitch count was 90. I know I got to 88 after seven innings. I didn’t mind coming out of the game with a 7-0 lead.”

At the plate yesterday, the Goldeyes were absolutely stellar. The Fish pounded out 14 hits, the big blow, a two-run shot off the bat of DH Juan Diaz in the bottom of the third that gave Winnipeg what was to be an insurmountable 4-0 lead.

Five Goldeyes had multi-hit games: Diaz was three-for-four with a walk, a run scored and three driven in; Aharon Eggleston went three-for-five with three runs scored and an RBI; Kevin West went two-for-four with a run scored and two RBI; and Vince Harrison and Jeremy Hamilton each had a pair of hits. Hamilton is now hitting .455 after his first four games in the Northern League.

“Just watching Juan hit the ball is really exciting, isn’t it?” said Walker with a wide smile. “It was just a great day of baseball out there.”

The Goldeyes will have another shot at a great day of baseball on Monday night when the Joliet JackHammers come to town. Left hander Antony Bello will get the start for the 3-1 Goldeyes.