PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

Saturday's games for the Pirates' lower minor league affiliates

Williamsburg Crosscutters �5, �State College Spikes �3 (box)

A full house sell-out in State College went home disappointed tonight, as the Spikes lost their home opener. �The Crosscutters scored 2 runs off starter Zack Dodson in the 2nd inning, on a walk, a single, a double, and a sacrifice fly. �Dodson gave up only one other hit in 3 more innings of work, and erased that runner with a double play.

The Spikes tied the score with a run in the bottom of the 2nd and another run in the 3rd. �A walk to 1B Gerlis Rodriguez open the inning. �A single by DH Kelson Brown, and a fielding error on CF Justin Bencsko's ball to first base loaded the bases for the Spikes. �C Miguel Mendez drove in Rodriguez with an RBI ground out. �Another fielding error put SS Walker Gourley on second base to begin the 3rd. �He scored on 3B Chase Lyles' line drive single into left field.

Mitch Fienemann took over from Dodson to begin the 4th. �After getting two outs, He gave up a single, a stolen base, and an RBI single to take a 3-2 lead. �The Spikes tied it up again in the bottom of the inning, on a double by Mendez, a passed ball, and a single by LF Melvin De La Cruz.

But the Crosscutters kept hammering at Fienemann, scoring a run in the 7th on two singles and a double, and another run in the 8th on four singles. �Sandobal Septimo finished the 8th for Fienemann, then pitched a scoreless 9th, despite giving up a double and a single.

Chase Lyles had two singles for the Spikes, and Justin Bencsko also had a single. �The Spikes collected 6 hits, while the Crosscutters posted 14 hits.

It took two forgotten men - Jeff Karstens and Lastings Milledge - to snap a 12 game losing streak.

Zach Duke will skip his scheduled start Tuesday due to mild elbow stiffness. The injury is considered to be minor.

Buffalo Bison �6, �Indianapolis Indians �4 (box)

Three home runs by Buffalo RF Valentino Pascucci powered the Bison over the Indians at Coca-Cola Park in Buffalo tonight. �The Tribe tried for a late-inning come-back, but fell short, despite another strong effort by the bullpen. �Starter Brian Burres (photo)�took the loss, as he allowed two of Pascucci's homers.

Pascucci began his big night in the bottom of the 1st. �SS Andy Green led off the inning with a double into left field. �Brian Burres walked 2B Justin Turner, then gave up the 3-run bomb over the left field wall to Pascucci. �The Bison added another run in each of the next two innings. �In the 2nd, Burres walked the lead-off batter, C Josh Thole, and CF Jonathan Malo followed with a double, moving Thole to third base. �Green's sacrifice fly plated Thole, and the Bison had a 4-0 lead. �They made it 5-0 in the 3rd, on Pascucci's second home run of the game -- at least this was a solo homer, leading off the inning.

Buffalo starter John Maine, on a rehab assignment from the Mets, had the Indians' batters well in hand for the first four innings. �He gave up a walk to RF Brandon Moss in the top of the 1st. �Moss stole second base, then went to third on 2B Jim Negrych's ground out, but Moss got no further. �Maine retired the Tribe batters in order in the 2nd, then walked two more Indians, Brian Burres and LF Kevin Melillo in the 3rd. �They were also left stranded when Maine retired the next two batters to end the inning. �Three Indians sat down in order in the 4th too.

CF Jonathan Van Every (photo) began the top of the 5th with the Indians' first hit of the game, a double into right field. �After a strikeout by SS Argenis Diaz, Brandon Jones came on to pinch hit for Burres. �Jones reached base on a grounder to second base, when Maine, covering first base, dropped the ball on the toss from 2B Justin Turner. �That put runners on the corners for the Indians, and ended Maine's evening. �Reliever Mike O'Connor came on for Buffalo. �He first faced Kevin Melillo and got him to ground out to first, but that allowed Van Every to score from third base. �It was the only run the Indians would get in the inning, as another ground out by Brandon Moss ended the brief rally.

Brian Burres also left the game after just 4 innings. �He had allowed 5 runs on a total of 5 hits -- two home runs plus the sacrifice fly. �Burres had thrown 78 pitches (46 for strikes). �Jeremy Powell took over for Burres, and struck out the side with 15 pitches. �Brian Bass took his turn in the 6th, and he also retired the side in order, on three straight ground outs. �Steven Jackson, recently reactivated from the disabled list, worked around a single for a scoreless 7th inning.

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Williamsport Crosscutters �5, �State College Spikes �3 (box)

The Spikes opened their season on the road tonight, unfortunately on the losing end. �Starter Zack Von Rosenberg, who had pitched just one inning in the 2009 season, was charged with the loss. �He pitched 4 innings, and allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and a walk, with 2 strikeouts.

Williamsport struck first, with a run in the bottom of the 1st inning, on two doubles. �The Spikes took the lead in the top of the 3rd, with a 2-out rally. �SS Walker Gourley doubled, and 2B Gift Ngoepe singled, driving in Gourley. �Ngoepe stole second base, and he scored on 3B Chase Lyles' RBI single (his first professional hit), giving the Spikes a 2-1 lead.

A 2-run homer, followed by a walk and an RBI double gave the Crosscutters 3 more runs and the lead in the 4th inning. �Another single nearly brought in another run, but RF Andury Acevedo's throw in to the plate to C Miguel Mendez had the lead runner out at the plate. �Those 4 Williamsport runs were all charged to Von Rosenberg.

The Spikes got within one run again in the 6th. �DH Kelson Brown and CF Justin Bencsko's each collected his first professional hit -- a single for Brown, and an RBI triple for Bencsko.

Ryan Beckman took over on the mound for Von Rosenberg for the 5th inning. �He gave up a single and hit a batter, but did not allow a run to score. �Eliecer Navarro pitched the next 2 innings. �He loaded the bases in the 6th with a walk and two singles, but struck out the next batter to end the inning without a run scoring. �Navarro gave up a solo home run in the 7th, giving the Crosscutters an insurance run. �Justin Ennis made his pro debut with a perfect 8th inning -- a strikeout and two ground outs.

I never thought it would come to this and I, I want you to know that everyone's got to face down their demons. Maybe today we can put the past away. Or maybe not. Apologies to Third Eye Blind.

The Pirates signed two draft picks today, Tyler Waldron (RHP - 5th round) and Vincent Payne (RHP - 12th round).

Mark Buerhle continued my misery. I mean the Pirates misery. Buerhle allowed just two runs in 6-1/3 IP and Ross Ohlendorf remains winless on the year.

Indianapolis Indians �2, �Buffalo Bison �0 (box)

The newest member of the Indianapolis Indians, infielder Jim Negrych (photo), played ball in his home town of Buffalo for the first time in many years. �He had hundreds, literally hundreds, of family and friends in the stands, and at times it was a bit hard to tell which team the crowd was cheering for. �And if that weren't enough, Negrych hit the game-winning home run and made some outstanding defensive plays at second base. �It was definitely the Negrych Show at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, NY.

Hayden Penn got the start for the Indians, and for the first few innings, he kept getting himself into trouble, then getting out of it. �He got the first two outs of the 1st inning, then walked 1B Mike Jacobs. �A wild pitch on strike three moved Jacobs to second base and put 3B Mike Cervenak on first base. �Then Penn got CF Fernando Martinez to tap back to the mound for the third out.

The Bison opened the 2nd inning with a double into right field by LF Lucas Duda. �Duda got greedy, though, and tried to make it a triple -- and was thrown out by Tribe RF Brandon Moss, through cut-off man 2B Jim Negrych, to 3B Doug Bernier, who tagged out Duda at third. �That bailed out Penn, because he followed the unexpected out by giving up a signle to C Josh Thole, a walk to SS Andy Green, a sacrifice bunt to Buffalo pitcher Pat Misch, and another walk to RF Russ Adams to load the bases. �Penn got out of the inning when 2B Justin Turner bounced to Bernier at third for a grounder force out at second base.

Penn (photo) had to deal with a runner at third base in the 3rd inning too. �With two outs, he gave up a double to Martinez, and another wild pitch put Martinez on third base. �Duda walked, giving the Bison runners on the corners. �But Thole grounded to second base, where Jim Negrych made the scoop and threw to SS Argenis Diaz covering second base for the force out that ended the inning. �Penn finished the first three innings having given up 4 walks, 3 hits (2 doubles and a single), 2 wild pitches �-- but no runs.

The Indians had a hit in each of the first four innings. �The man of the night, Jim Negrych, singled with two outs in the 1st inning. �1B Jeff Clement doubled to lead off the 2nd inning, and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by CF Jonathan Van Every. Brandon Moss singled with two outs in the 3rd. �Clement singled again in the 4th inning. �All four of them were left on base.

Then, Hayden Penn flipped a switch. �Or maybe brought in his not-so-evil twin. �Penn retired the next 9 batters he faced in order, including three strikeouts.

Lots of home runs in the minor leagues tonight, including Jim Negrych's 2-run homer that won the game for the Indianapolis Indians.

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Bradenton Marauders �9, �Jupiter Hammerheads �7 (box)

A 5-run inning boosted the Marauders in the early part of the game, and then the Marauders had to use three home runs to make up for making 4 errors in the field. �The two teams combined for 27 hits in the game, with the Marauders accounting for 16 of them.

Bradenton starter Nate Adcock gave up a run in each of the 2nd and 3rd innings. �Two singles and two throwing errors brought in a run in the 2nd, and a double, a single, and an RBI ground out plated the run in the 3rd.

The newest Marauder, 2B Jorge Bishop, got the party started in the bottom of the 3rd with a lead-off triple. �A single by SS Greg Picart brought in Bishop. Another single by CF Robbie Grossman and a double by rehabbing DH Steve Pearce plated Picart. �LF Quincy Latimore singled to score Grossman and Pearce. �Two more singles, by 1B Calvin Anderson and 3B Adenson Chourio scored Latimore. �The Marauders almost had another run, but Adenson Chourio was throw out at the plate after C Andrew Walker's single. �The Marauders came out of the inning with a 5-2 lead.

Adcock got into trouble in the 5th, when a fielding error began the inning. �A double, a single, a passed ball, and two RBI ground outs brought in three more runs, only one of which was earned. �Another double, a fielding error, two singles and a sacrifice fly brought in an earned run and an unearned run in the 6th.

The Marauders kept up with the help of the homers. �Calvin Anderson smacked a solo homer in the 5th. �A double by Bishop, a stolen base, and a wild pitch added another run in the 6th, to tie the score at 7-7. �Back-to-back homers by Quincy Latimore and Calvin Anderson in the 7th gave the Marauders the go-ahead run and one more for insurance.

Tyler Cox, Ramon Aguero, and Noah Krol each pitched one scoreless inning of relief, with 5 strikeouts between them. �Cox earned the win, since he was the pitcher of record when Latimore and Anderson homered in the 7th. �Aguero was credited with a Hold, and Krol earned his 16th save of the season, tying him for the lead in the Florida State League.

Rehabbing Steve Pearce went 1-for-3 with an RBI double, a walk, and a strikeout in the game.

The Pirates' front office has received a tremendous amount of criticism for its handling of the Pedro Alvarez promotion. The franchise that is often bashed for over-hyping prospects and giving its fans false hope is now being bashed for placing too little emphasis on the PR aspect of the situation. It is a strange criticism that has left me thoroughly confused.

Pirates' president Frank Coonelly announced today that general manager Neal Huntington and manager John Russell had their contracts extended through 2011 this past offseason. This information had not been made public previously.