Royals on the Farm 6/8

AAA: Omaha had the day off Wednesday and takes on division leading Memphis in a 4-game home set before the annual CWS road trip -- 16 games on the road. The O-Royals are 27-33 and 3 1/2 games back of the Redbirds. Tonight's pitching matchup is Omaha's Danny Tamayo (3-4, 5.40) vs. Redbirds LHP and former "phenom" Bill Pulsipher (1-1, 4.32). Only 1 guy with over 10 IP at Omaha has a sub-4 ERA -- Justin Huisman at 3.43 in 39 1/3 IP. Most are over 5. Yuck. Four guys are batting over .300 led by Harvey at .357. Plus Alejandro Prieto has been on a hot streak lately and is up to .284. Six players have OBPs over .360, which is also good. Three (Harvey, Scott Walter, Guiel) have SLG percentages over .500. You take the good with the bad.

AA: 1B Justin Huber came through with a big 3-run roundtripper in the 9th but Wichita couldn't get the win as Springfield was victorious, 7-6, in 12. Wichita jumped on the scoreboard Wednesday with 2 in the 1st on a 2-run single by C Mathew Tupman but SP Ryan Baerlocher got a bad start to his first Wrangler game as he gave the 2 runs back in the bottom of the 1st and then gave up 2 more in the 2nd. Both were on 2-run homers. Wichita scored again in the 4th on a fielding error by Springfield 2B Aaron Herr (son of former Cardinal Tom Herr) that allowed 2B Rudy Gomez to score. Springfield added a run in the 7th to take a 5-3 lead into the 9th. With 1 out, RF Wilkin Ruan and CF Mitch Maier singled and Huber came through with his 8th homer of the season to give the Wranglers a 6-5 lead. With 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, Springfield got a double from 1B Andy Schutzenhofer off RP Shawn Sonnier that scored a run but LF Cory Aldridge threw the winning run out at the plate via SS Mike Aviles' relay to send the game to extra innings. Wichita left the bases loaded in both the 10th and 11th innings and Springfield pushed across a run in the bottom of the 12th off RP Nate Hoelscher to win it. Baerlocher went 4 1/3 IP and allowed 4 ER on 6 hits with 2 BB and 2 Ks to set his ERA at 8.31. RP Colt Griffin went 2 2/3 IP and allowed 1 UER on a hit and 2 BB with 1 K to move his ERA to 3.16. Sonnier went 3 2/3 IP and allowed the 1 ER on 4 hits and 2 BB with 4 Ks to move his ERA to 2.20. Hoelscher dropped to 1-1 as he gave up the 1 ER on 2 hits and 2 BB in 1 IP to bump his ERA to 5.81. Maier was 1-7 to drop to .240 at AA while Huber was 2-5 with a BB, HR, 3 RBI and 2 RS to improve to .323. DH Josh Pressley was 0-4 with 2 BB to drop to .299. Tupman was 2-5 with a BB and 2 RBI to move to .283, Gomez was 2-6 to improve to .169 and Ruan was 2-5 with a BB to improve to .194. Wichita left 13 on base.

Wichita is 29-30 and 7 games back of Tulsa. Tonight's game features LHP Derrin Ebert (2-1, 5.23) against Springfield LHP Randy Leek (6-2, 2.91).

High-A: High Desert couldn't get its offense going until the 9th as the Mavs lost to Rancho Cucamonga, 8-4. The Mavs got on the board first in the 2nd on a double-play ball by LF Darwinson Salazar that plated CF Alan Moye. Between then and the bottom of the 9th, the Quakes scored 8 to enter the bottom of the 9th up, 8-1. After Moye reached on an error to begin the inning, DH Brandon Powell cracked a 2-run home run for his 6th of the season and Salazar scored on a double-play ball by SS Angel Sanchez later in the inning before 3B Adam Keim grounded out to end the game. SP Chris Coughlin dropped to 0-5 as he allowed 5 R (3 ER) on 9 hits and 2 BB with 4 Ks over 6 innings to bump his ERA to 6.43. RP Drew Endicott went 2 IP and allowed 1 ER on 2 hits to move his ERA to 5.35. RP Stephen Bray gave up 2 ER on 2 hits in 1 IP with 2 Ks to bump his ERA to 5.13. Mavs 2B Andres Blanco singled to lead off the bottom of the 1st and was later forced at third and didn't come out for the defensive part of the 2nd. Keim was 1-5 with a double to drop his BA to .304, 1B Kila Kaaihue was 1-3 with a BB to drop to .352, Powell was 3-4 with a HR and 2 RBI to improve to .317 and C Adam Donachie was 2-4 with a double to improve to .262.

High Desert is 29-29 and 4 games back of Lake Elsinore. Tonight's matchup is Quakes RHP Bill Edwards (0-1, 11.25) v. RHP Kahi Kaanoi (3-6, 6.02) in the final game of the two teams' set at High Desert's stadium. They then move to Rancho Cucamonga's place for a 4-game set.

Low-A: Burlington had the day off Wednesday. The Bees are 27-31 and 5 1/2 games out of first. The 5-game home set with Fort Wayne starts tonight as Wizards RH Joel Santo (2–4, 5.20) takes on RH Luis Cota (2–3, 2.04). Looking at the Bees' season stats, Cota stands out among pitchers with 62 Ks in 61 IP. '04 draftees Patrick Hicklen (3-1, 3.12), Chad Blackwell (4-1, 2.42) and Kyle Crist (4-0, 1.61) also look good. Blackwell has 33 Ks in 26 IP with only 9 BB. Two guys are hitting over .300 with another '04 draftee, Edward Lucas, sticking out at .308 in 185 AB. The other .300 guy is Damaso Espino who has only 14 Burlington ABs. Lucas only has 8 extra-base hits, tho, and 0 HRs. He's one of 4 players with OBPs over .360 but the highest SLG % on the team is Rusty Brown at .424. Brown is also batting .291.