by Ray D. Enzé, Aurora baseball blogger

April 1, 2041: Tempe, Arizona – Last year it was a wild pitch in the bottom of the 9^th at the Ballpark formerly-known as YUM! that sent the Borealis home on Opening Day in Bakersfield and this year the dynamics may be different, but the results remain the same – Aurora begins the year with a painful loss that reflects an all too frequent 2040 storyline in it’s own right: the late-inning arms allowing a walk-off homer.

54,611 filed into Gisolo-Duppa Field on a cool desert evening, the Apollos wearing their old, red Knights uniforms in celebration of the 35^th PEBA season, and over the first five-innings of the game Aurora Ace Brenden Clymo made the ‘Knights’ look more like Pawns as he held Tempe to one hit and allowed a pair of walks as he opened the 2041 season looking sharp and ready, with spring training dusted from his shoulders. He struck out Tempe’s new toy – Antonio Hererra and Pedro Coronado in the first, Li Caporn and Kinfu Yawo in the second, Guonçallo Carvalhas in the third, and two more in the 5^th – before the Apollos managed anything.

Meanwhile, Aurora had plenty of chances against Tempe starter Will Taylor, with multiple runners and multiple runners in scoring position in the first three innings before shortstop Jose Aleman lead off the 5^thand crushing the first pitch for a 396-foot solo homer to left-center – Aurora’s first run, first homerun and first lead of the 2041 campaign. Hideki Nishikawa would later double in the inning, but he would be left standing at second.

Tempe would get the run back in the 6^th as Clymo looked to be tiring on a day in which he’d throw 84-pitches – right at his first start pitch count, in excruciating fashion. Carvalhas would reach on an error by 3B Fernando Rodriguez, his throw pulling Raul Munoz off the bag – but Clymo quickly got an assist from his catcher as with Hererra at the plate, Carvalhas took off on a 0-1 pitch, but Lan Qing fired a pea to second and easily nailed him for the first out. With Hererra taking a pair of strikes to give his teammate the chance to move up, he would strikeout for the second out, leaving Clymo with the shot to get out of the jam unscathed.

But Coronado singled, the Docherty singled on a 1-2 pitch and most brutal of all, Rule 5 pick-up Brian Davis – previously an Aurora farmhand the team couldn’t hold on to, singled – his first major league hit and first major league RBI – a looping opposite field shot, Coronado beating Nishikawa’s throw to the plate, tying the game at 1-1. Davis, an 8^th round pick in the 2037 draft, out of Cincinnati, rounded the bag with a giant hoot, clapping his hands and a big, gleeful smile on his face.

Not having a good time was Brenden Clymo, slapping his glove on his thigh, cursing as he looked out into centerfield, yelling at no one but himself.

Clymo would get out of the inning otherwise unscathed, but the damage was done, and two batters later in the 7^th, he was out of the game.

Each team would have a baserunner in the 7^th and 8^th, but nothing would come of it as Shane Perales and the ‘Werewolf’ would come on for their respective teams and do the job, but then in the 9^th it was Carlos Villarreal for the Apollos and it looked like Aurora would take the lead. After a Mark Newton strikeout, ‘Litterbug’ would line a single and promptly take off on the first pitch to Pedro Macias, but Leonard Ortegawould throw out Arundale. But now, with 2-outs Macias’ follow up single (pinch-hitting for Qing) and Almen’s single – which may well have scored Stewart if he stayed put, went to naught when Angel Silva hit a routine flyball to centerfielder Juan Chavarría.

And on to the bottom of the 9^th – a place that has so often been a House of Horrors for Aurora – and Barry Rodriguez, who came into pitch the 9^th has been no stranger to those horrors, and it was pinch-hitter Maxine Astier – the 32^nd overall pick in 2035, by West Virginia – also a Rule 5 pick-up by Tempe last year, with all of 51-games in the PEBA, who drilled the ball, opposite-field, over the wall just left of center, 412-feet, giving the Apollos the dramatic 2-1 Opening Day win over the Borealis.

It was a tough day for the starters, as Clymo and Taylor posted similar lines – Clymo 6.1 IP, Taylor 6 IP, both allowed a run on 5 H, and both had a pair of walks; Clymo getting the better of the match-up with 7 K.

This was the second time in three years that Aurora has lost Opening Day in Tempe on a walkoff homer – allowed by Barry Rodriguez (Coronado in 2039), and the third straight year the Borealis begin 0-1. Here’s hoping that’ll change tomorrow as Armando Batista will make his 2041 debut – his 9^th full season with Aurora and he’ll take on Ernest Smith, the 26-year old right-hander who will be starting his fourth major league season. Smith was outstanding last year – 20-4, with a 2.52 ERA – taking home the SL Golden Arm Award – something Batista surely has coveted.

Last year was a difficult one for Armando as he began strong, only to suffer a rough ankle sprain that kept him out for 5-weeks. He finished with a 10-4 mark and a 2.27 ERA.

After tomorrow’s game, the Borealis have an unusual 2-days off before heading to Bakersfield for three with the rival Bears. Highlighting the series will be the anticipated debut of Thibault Dejean, now pitching in ‘Slug’s rotation spot. And I’ll leave you with this for those who haven’t heard – Brian Clark was traded today by Hartford to Arlington in an exchange of 5-players. This feels like just the beginning of ‘Slug’s travels.