Royals on the Farm 9/3

AAA: Omaha is clinging to the last of its playoff hopes after a 3-2 loss to Oklahoma Saturday. The RedHawks scored in the 1st off SP Dennis Tankersley but Omaha tied it in the 3rd on a sac fly by 3B Chris Truby. The O-Royals took the lead in the 6th on an RBI single by LF Shane Costa but Tankersley gave up the tying single in the 7th. Omaha loaded the bases with 2 out in the 8th but couldn't score and with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th RP Justin Huisman allowed the RedHawks to load the bases and Oklahoma 1B Chris Richard hit a walkoff single to end it. Tankersley went 6 IP and allowed 2 ER on 6 hits and 3 walks with 2 Ks to move his ERA to 4.24; RP Jaime Cerda went 2 1/3 IP and allowed a hit and walk with 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 5.26; and Huisman took the loss with 1/3 IP of 1 ER on 3 hits and a walk to drop to 8-2 with a 3.97 ERA. SS Andres Blanco was 1-4 with a HBP to drop to .260; DH Calvin Pickering was 2-4 to improve to .264; Costa was 2-4 with a double and RBI to improve to .250; C Jared Price was 0-3 with a walk to drop to .224; and 1B Chad Santos was 0-3 with a walk to drop to .259. Both teams left 10 on base.

Omaha is 72-70 and 2 games behind Nashville with 2 games left in the season. Omaha continues the final series of the season and tries to somehow salvage a playoff berth tonight at Oklahoma. Pitchers: RH Ryan Jensen (2-10, 7.20) vs. RH R.A. Dickey (9-6, 6.15). Jensen is just who Omaha needs on the mound with the season on the line. In other O-Royals news, with 102 runs now scored, CF Adrian Brown is just a run shy of the club’s single season record set by George Spriggs in 1969.

AA: Wichita won't finish .500 for the second half as both the Wranglers and Tulsa Drillers did all their offensive work in the 5th in a 4-3 Wichita loss Saturday. Both teams were quiet until the 5th when, with 2 out, 2B Ruben Gotay hit a 2-run double and CF Mitch Maier followed with an RBI double to give the Wranglers a 3-0 lead. Tulsa's runs came on one swing as Drillers LF Justin Czarniecki cranked a grand slam off SP Kyle Middleton to give Tulsa a 4-3 lead in the 5th. The Wranglers loaded the bases with 2 out in the 9th but Gotay struck out to end the game. Middleton took the L with 7 IP of 4 ER on 10 hits with 7 Ks to drop to 10-9 with a 5.31 ERA; and RP Nate Hoelscher went an inning and allowed a hit to drop his ERA to 5.63. Gotay was 1-5 with a double and 2 RBI to drop to .255; Maier was 1-4 with a double and RBI to drop to .254; 1B Josh Pressley was 0-4 to drop to .311; 3B Brennan King was 2-4 to improve to .288; LF Billy Butler was 0-4 to drop to .312; and DH John Draper was 2-3 to improve to .251. Butler made his 3rd error in the 6th.

Wichita is 33-36 and out of the playoff hunt with 1 game to play. The season ends at Tulsa today. No announced starters.

High-A: High Desert got the division wrapped up Saturday in a comeback 11-10 win in 11 innings over Lancaster. Lancaster took a 7-0 lead with 5 in the 2nd and 2 in the 3rd off SP Cesar Herrera to put High Desert in an early hole. The Mavs broke through with 2 in the 3rd on RBI singles by 3B Walter Sevilla and CF Chris Lubanski. The JetHawks increased their lead to 10-2 by the middle of the 5th but it was all High Desert from there. The Mavs scored 6 in the 5th on a 2-run homer by 2B Pete Maestrales (his 15th), an RBI force out by RF Alan Moye and a 3-run homer by LF Bernard Stephens (his 14th) to close the gap to 10-8 and also break the California League season record for home runs by a team with 201. The record was previously set by Visalia in 1971. The Mavs tied it in the 6th with 2 runs on RBI singles by SS Angel Sanchez and 1B Kila Kaaihue and the game stayed tied at 10 into extra innings after Lancaster left the bases loaded in the 9th. In the bottom of the 11th, Kaaihue and Moye walked with 1 out and the winning run scored on a walkoff single by Stephens to give the Mavs an 11-10 win and the second-half division title. Herrera went 4 1/3 IP and allowed 10 R (9 ER) on 12 hits and a walk with 5 Ks to bump his ERA to 7.27; RP Stephen Chamberlain went 2 IP and allowed a hit and walk with a K to drop his ERA to 7.61; RP Eric Ackerman pitched a hitless inning with a walk to drop his ERA to 5.59; RP Gabe DeHoyos went 1 2/3 IP and allowed 3 hits and a walk with 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 1.48; and RP Brian Steffek got the win with 2 IP of 1 hit to improve to 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA. Maestrales was 1-6 with a HR and 2 RBI to drop to .319; Sanchez was 3-6 with a triple, RBI and 2 RS to improve to .312; Lubanski was 2-5 with a walk and RBI to improve to .301; Kaaihue was 1-3 with 2 walks, a HBP and an RBI to improve to .305; Stephens was 3-6 with a HR and 4 RBI to improve to .304; DH Brady Everett was 3-5 with a double and 2 RS to improve to .333; and Sevilla was 3-4 with a walk and RBI to improve to .252. Sevilla made his 11th error.

High Desert is 39-30 and has clinched a playoff berth and the second-half division title with a game to play. The final regular season series ends tonight. No announced starters. The Mavs will face Lancaster in a best-of-3 series to start the playoffs Sept. 7. Game 1 will be in Lancaster and games 2 and 3 (if necessary) will be at High Desert's place in Adelanto. High Desert also earned home-field advantage in the second round if they advance that far.

Low-A: Burlington dropped its 3rd straight to Clinton with a 5-4 loss to the LumberKings Saturday. Burlington led off the game with a run in the 1st on an RBI single by 3B Edward Lucas but Clinton scored 3 off SP Dusty Dossett in the 1st to take a 3-1 lead. The Bees scored runs in each of the 4th, 5th and 6th innings on an RBI double by 1B Rusty Brown, a Lucas RBI single and a double play ball by Brown that scored a run and gave Burlington a 4-3 lead. The score remained that way into the bottom of the 8th when Clinton got runs on a wild pitch and a Lucas throwing error to take the lead. The Bees loaded the bases with 2 out in the top of the 9th but C Damaso Espino lined out to end the game. Dossett went 6 IP and gave up 3 ER on 7 hits and 2 walks with 2 Ks to move his ERA to 4.07; and RP Rusty Begnaud blew his 1st save and took the loss with 2 IP of 2 R (1 ER) on 3 hits and 2 walks with a K to drop to 0-1 with a 4.28 ERA. SS Irving Falu was 2-5 with a triple and 2 RS to improve to .252; 2B Gary Perez was 1-4 with a walk and double to drop to .267; Lucas was 3-5 with an RBI to improve to .292 and he had 2 errors to get to 28 on the season; and Brown was 2-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI to improve to .265.

Burlington is 30-38 and out of the playoff hunt. The Bees continue the final series at Clinton tonight. No announced starters.

Rookie: Idaho Falls lost to Casper Saturday, 9-4. Casper scored all 9 runs in the 1st 3 innings off SP Phillip Davidson and the Chukars didn't recover. Idaho Falls got on the board in the 6th on a solo homer by SS Chris McConnell (his 6th) and scored 3 in the 8th on an RBI single by CF Ethien Santana and an RBI force out by McConnell that scored another run on a Casper error. Davidson took the loss with 2 1/3 IP of 9 ER on 9 hits and a walk to drop to 6-3 with a 4.83 ERA; RP Brandon Brantley went 3 2/3 IP and allowed only 3 hits with 5 Ks to drop his ERA to 7.55; RP Kevin Bulger went an inning and allowed 2 hits and a walk with a K to drop his ERA to 10.45; and RP Jacob Eckley went an inning and allowed a hit with 2 Ks to drop his ERA to 7.18. Santana was 1-4 with an RBI to drop to .308; McConnell was 1-4 with a HR and 2 RBI to drop to .328; LF Felix Peguero was 2-4 with 2 doubles to improve to .265; C Kiel Thibault was 0-4 to drop to .316; and RF Byron Barber was 1-3 to improve to .310.

Idaho Falls is 13-20 and 5 games out of first with 5 games left on the schedule. The series switches to Casper tonight.

The ASL Royals finished the second half at 15-13 and 3 games back of first. Overall the Royals finished 34-22.