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By VAN ROSE [email protected]
Monday, May 03, 2004     Page: 1B

TRIPLE-A BASEBALLMOOSIC – First baseman Jim Rushford put things into
perspective after the Red Barons’ dazzling offensive performance Sunday.
   
“This is what I expected since the season began. We have a good-hitting
team and it was just a matter of time until everybody starting hitting at the
same time.”
    Rushford and Pablo Ozuna each had four RBI, and Brian Hitchcox almost hit
for the cycle as Scranton/Wilkes pounded out 17 hits while romping to a 15-4
victory over Ottawa at Lackawanna County Stadium.
   
Chase Utley and Jorge Padilla also came up big. Utley was 3-for-4 with a
pair of doubles, and Padilla was 2-for-2, with three RBI and scored three runs
to keep the Red Barons in first place in the North Division of the
International League.
   
Basically, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (14-9) did all the damage in two innings.
The Red Barons scored four times in the fourth, taking a 5-2 lead. And they
turned the game into a laugher with eight runs in the bottom of the sixth.
   
Rushford, who’s been on a hitting tear in the Ottawa series, came up with
the hit that took the steam out of the Lynx – a bases-loaded triple in the
sixth. He drilled a Rodney Ormond fastball down the first-base line into the
right field gap, widening the lead to 9-2 with just one out.
   
“I was just trying to hit the ball,” Rushford said. “Fortunately, it
went into the gap.”
   
Rushford, whose bases-loaded double was the big blow in Friday’s dramatic
comeback victory over the Lynx, isn’t concerned that the Red Barons are last
in the league in home runs.
   
“We’re not a home-run-hitting team. The most important thing is that
everyone continues to get timely hits. There’s really no one on our team you
can pitch around.”
   
Hitchcox, who came in batting .171, had a breakout game. He singled,
doubled and tripled. In his last at-bat, he hit a high fly ball to left field
that was caught.
   
The chance to become the first Red Barons player ever to hit for a cycle
was definitely on his mind, Hitchcox said.
   
“I was trying for the cycle. The game was pretty much in hand. I hit the
ball well, but not well enough to get it out of the park. I’m not the kind of
guy who hits home runs, though.”
   
Hitchcox, a utility infielder whose forte is sure-handed fielding, has
picked up his hitting against Ottawa – something he credits to hitting coach
Sal Rende. “He’s made some changes in my mechanics,” Hitchcox said.
   
Red Barons manager Marc Bombard said has taken notice.
   
“He got some nice hits today. He stayed on top of the ball better, and hit
a changeup for a triple. He’s had some good at bats.”
   
Starting pitcher Josh Hancock (3-2) notched the win. The right-hander
worked six innings, surrendering three runs on seven hits. It wasn’t Hancock’s
sharpest outing, but it was his longest outing of the season.
   
“Josh didn’t have his fastball consistently in the strike zone, but he
battled hard,” Bombard said.
   
Chad Mottola and Eddy Garabito paced Ottawa (9-15) with two hits each.
Every Red Baron had at least one hit, except for left fielder Lou Collier.
   
Designated hitter Mark Smith, who played for a last-place team
(Indianapolis) in 2003, likes the makeup of the Red Barons.
   
“Everyone in the lineup can hit, and we have some power with Utley,”
Smith said. We’ve got the potential to make a lot of teams miserable.”
   
NOTES: Lefty Cole Hamels, the Phillies’ No. 1 pitching prospect who’s at
Single-A Clearwater, is expected to make his season debut in mid-May,
according to Minor League pitching coordinator Gorman Heimueller. The
20-year-old phenom has been sidelined since late March with a tender elbow.
   
Righthander Gavin Floyd, another top prospect, may be on the road to
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Floyd has yet to allow a run at Reading.
   

   
FOR TIMES LEADER/AIMEE DILGER
   
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre shortstop Pablo Ozuna slides safely into home plate
on Chase Utley’s double in the fourth inning, alluding the tag of Ottawa
catcher Geronimo Gil.
   
FOR THE TIMES LEADER/AIMEE DILGER
   
The Red Barons’ Chase Utley tags out Ottawa’s Mike Fontenot on the slide
into second base during Sunday’s 15-4 victory over the Lynx.