The Sweets are back

The Sweets are back in town and the 2012 season is underway. It didn't start off the way that Sweets fans would have hoped, a 6-4 loss to Corvallis is how the scoreboard read after the final out on Friday night. For seven innings the Sweets were in the lead though, but one bad pitch spelled defeat for the boys in white as Austin Barr hit a grand slam in the top of the eighth for the Knights.

Opening Night was filled with great moments and Borleske Stadium was filled with a great crowd. Over 2,000 attended the game on what was a gorgeous evening for baseball; that of course until the rains came in the fifth inning. But many stuck around to see the Sweets rally with three runs in the bottom of the fifth without the benefit of a hit. They also saw Corvallis rip their hearts out again with a late rally.

Some of the other notes from around the ballpark on the first day:
- Kalani Brackenridge is back in town and made another spectacular play at second base. He laid out to catch a line drive off the bat of Dane Lund in the seventh inning. He wasn't as lucky in the eighth as a ground ball scooted off his glove to start the Corvallis rally. It was one of four errors the Sweets would make on the night.
- Brett Jacobs finally was able to play in a live game situation. Hurt during the 2011 spring season at Washington State, Jacobs missed all last summer and all this spring getting healthy. He's finally healthy and picked up a hit, two walks and scored a run in his debut last night. His time with the Sweets will short-lived however, as he must return to Washington St. to finish up two summer school classes; a technical writing English class and an introductory management class.
- Returning catcher Kevin Hawk was apparently injured during his first at-bat and played on a bad leg the rest of the game, hobbling in and out of the dugout. The initial prognosis is a lower body injury that he sustained in warmups and he will be held out of tonight's game in order to get some rest.
- Tyler Roberts put together a strong start, allowing two runs over five innings. He set down the first nine batters to start the game but was touched for two runs on four hits in the fourth inning.
- With the departure of Jacobs following tonight's game, the Sweets are now looking to fill the void they could have at first base. Chance Kopacz and Spencer O'Neil have been taking ground balls at first and Jarrod Turner started Friday at first.

The Sweets and the Knights continue their three-game series tonight at 7:05 p.m. Joe Arlt from Walla Walla CC will get the start on the mound for Walla Walla.