Silverados 13-3 loss to the San Rafael Pacifics
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It just wasn’t the Silverados night Friday in their 13-3 loss to the San Rafael Pacifics.
The beauty of baseball, however, is the fact that the next day provides an opportunity to bounce back from a defeat.
“We just had a conversation with the boys and we said ‘you know, we’re going to be tested throughout the season and there’s going to be a test of how we bounce back from whipping and then getting whooped’,” said Napa manager Tito Fuentes Jr.
“We’ve got to all get on track; you know this happens in baseball, you can’t win every game, but it’s how you bounce back,” Napa first baseman Josh Montelongo said. “So we’re going to bounce back strong tomorrow and we’re going to finish this weekend off strong.”
The Pacifics (1-1) scored the opening two runs of the contest when Zach Files crushed a two-run home run to right-center in the top of the second. They also added tallies to the scoreboard in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings.
Later on in the bottom of the fourth Napa (1-1) scored when Josh Montelongo hit his second homer of the young season — this one being of the solo variety. The Silverados added a run a piece in the sixth and the eighth.
“Feels good,” Montelongo said of hitting a homer two consecutive days in a row. “Unfortunately we didn’t get the win.”
“He’s on track for 80,” a chuckling Fuentes said of the Montelongo solo shot. “A lot of people didn’t give him a chance in his college (career), but since I coached over there I saw some good things, and I wanted to give him an opportunity. He wanted to become a police officer, highway patrolman back in his hometown of Fresno, and I said ‘no, you need to try one (season of) summer ball and see what happens’.”
Montelongo also came up with a defensive gem in the top half of the fifth inning when he caught a pop up by doing the good old pop up dance down the first base line.
“That was a brutal one,” Montelongo explained of the tough pop up. “Right when I saw that hit I knew that was going to come down on my side, I knew the right fielder wouldn’t have a play on that — it was a little too close to me and the wind started drifting it further, so I knew I had only one play, (which) was to turn around and stick my glove out there. I knew it was going to drift to the left of me, so I just put my glove out to the left and imagined where it would land at and luckily I got it.”
San Rafael pitcher Jared Koenig was solid on the evening. Over 5 and ⅔ innings of action he struck out seven, walked one, and gave up one run to get the winning decision.
“He looked very good,” Fuentes explained of Koenig’s outing. “You know he knew how to pitch to us. It’s kind of interesting I told the boys I said ‘after what they saw yesterday, expect for them to pitch us backwards. They’re going to start us off soft, make us chase, and then they’re going to come in hard, and then they’re going to get you guessing.’ And it’s what happened.”
Billy Filo, who started for Napa, took the loss. He went five innings, gave up six runs, and struck out one.
The two teams will meet again today at 5:05 p.m. at San Rafael’s Albert Park. It will be the Pacifics home opener.
Former big-leaguer J.P. Howell is scheduled to start for San Rafael.
The crowd was announced at 330 for the Silverados second game of the very young season.
Napa’s next home game will be June 9th when they host the Pittsburg Diamonds. It will be a 5 p.m start.
