Stockton Stays Unbeaten With 7-3 Win

STOCKTON, Calif. - By Saturday night's end, the Stockton Ports remained the last unbeaten team in the California League. Stockton scored the last five runs of their game with the Bakersfield Blaze as they made it three wins in a row, defeating Bakersfield by a final of 7-3.

The Blaze jumped on the board right away as former Port Michael Gilmartin led off the game with a home run to right off Ports starter Sean Murphy (1-0).

Stockton knotted the score in the second on a one-out RBI single from Tony Thompson off Blaze starter Jonathan Moscot (0-1). The Ports took their first lead in the third when Max Muncy brought in Myrio Richard with a sac-fly to left to make it 2-1.

Bakersfield took the lead back in the fourth using a pair of unearned runs. With two outs and the bases empty, Ports third baseman had a bouncing ball go off his chest, an error that allowed Juan Silverio to reach and extend the inning. After a Juan Duran infield single, Sean Buckley and Yovan Gonzalez had back-to-back RBI singles to put the Blaze in front 3-2.

The Ports took the lead back for good in the bottom of the fourth. With one on and two out, Michael Fabiaschi hit a two-run homer to left off Moscot to give Stockton a 4-3 lead. Fabiaschi went 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored.

The home run knocked Moscot from the game and he took the loss, going 3.2 innings and allowing four runs on five hits while striking out four.

Stockton added to its lead in the fifth on an infield RBI single by Tony Thompson to make it a 5-3 advantage. The Ports added a run in the seventh on an RBI double from Bobby Crocker and an RBI single in the eighth off the bat of Dusty Robinson.

Murphy earned the win for the Ports, going five innings and allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out six.

Omar Duran, Seth Frankoff and David Mota combined for four scoreless innings of relief down the stretch for the Ports.

The Ports will try to begin the season with a four-game sweep when they host the Blaze in the finale of their series on Sunday afternoon. Tanner Peters (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will take the hill for Stockton, opposed by Bakersfield right-hander James Allen (0-0, 0.00 ERA). First pitch is set for 2:09 p.m. PDT.