Flores returns to Friendly Confines

CHICAGO -- While many of the players in this year's Road to Wrigley game are hoping to make their first memorable moment at the Friendly Confines, Peoria Chiefs catcher Luis Flores already has had his.

Flores was the hero in the inaugural Road to Wrigley contest in 2008. He came to the plate with the Chiefs down a run in the bottom of the seventh inning and a man on third base. He got a pitch over the fat part of the plate and drove it just high and far enough for Brandon Guyer to tag up and score.

"It was awesome, playing in front of 32,000 fans," Flores said. "Then stepping up to the box down by one and tying it up, it was kind of neat."

The run proved important in the grand scheme of things, because while Flores played a big role in continuing the game, Mother Nature played an even bigger role in putting a stop to it.

With Flores at the plate in the ninth and the score still tied, the heavens opened up at the corner of Clark and Addison streets, forcing the teams to delay the finish of the game until the following day in Peoria, where the Chiefs got a walk-off two-run single from Luis Batista in the 12th.

Flores is the lone player from that year's contest who returned to Wrigley for Wednesday's second go-round. He said his teammates were getting more and more excited about it as the game drew closer, asking what it's like to play on one of baseball's most sacred fields.

He said it's an honor, but the game is just another day at the office.

"I just tell them to come out here and do their job as best as they can," he added.

The other constant in this year's contest is Cougars manager Aaron Nieckula, who grew up a Cubs fan in the Chicago area. He was also trying to treat it like any other game.

"I try not to do anything different. You just go about your daily routine, get these guys moving through their programs, BP, all that stuff," he said.

But he's quick to acknowledge that the Road to Wrigley contest is an experience unlike any his players have had. That much was evident before the game. Players and front-office staff alike were roaming around the field, sitting in different seats and taking pictures of one another, trying to soak in all the sights and sounds.

"Obviously, playing at Wrigley Field, it's not just any visiting ballpark. It's Wrigley Field, it's got a lot of history," Nieckula said. "Some of these guys, they're never gonna play in a big league field again. I just told them to go out there, have fun, enjoy the moment and create some memories that are going to last a lifetime."

As a result, both Nieckula and his Peoria counterpart, one-time Cubs prospect Casey Kopitzke, want to make sure each player is able to enjoy his time in the Windy City. Still, both managers acknowledge this is a regular-season game that counts in the standings, so they can't use the kind of rotation they would in an exhibition contest.

"I'm just approaching it as a regular game, just in a different venue," Kopitzke said. "I'd like to get everybody in the game, but unfortunately, I'm probably not going to be able to."

"You'd like to give everybody the opportunity to say they played at Wrigley Field, but at the same time you've gotta keep guys on the bench just in case something happens," Nieckula added.