Five games played - and four games lost. Last weekend's series of two doubleheaders with the Mesa Garden of Gears hardly qualifies as a rousing success for the Bisbee Copper Kings, but team manager Greg Pennington sees better times ahead.
"We had a rough weekend but we kind of expected it would be with most of our starting infield gone," Pennington said Sunday, after the Copper Kings scored their only win of the weekend, defeating the visiting Sierra Vista All-Stars 14-5 in an exhibition game played at Warren Ballpark.
"We should have all of our starters back for this weekend, and we'll be establishing a starting rotation that should be the best in the league."
Pennington is expected to see Billy Vopenik on the Copper Kings roster in time to see action against the visiting Tucson Nationals this weekend.
The start time of the opening game of each of the two doubleheaders scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Warren Ballpark is 4 p.m.
The Kings will also host the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Flying Mustangs in an exhibition game this Sunday. Play begins at 12 noon.
Vopenik, who played for Biola University this spring, led all college pitchers in saves this year and had the lowest earned run average in the NAIA, Pennington said.
"On a good day, he throws 91-93 miles per hour."
Vopenik will join Calen Pennington, Brandon Orr and Kyle Cormier in Bisbee's starting rotation.
"When our pitching staff is healthy we'll have one of the best teams in the league," Pennington said.
The Kings were missing starting shortstop Destry Rice and third baseman James Lilley during their Friday and Saturday doubleheaders with the Gears and Sunday's single game with the All-Stars. Starting second baseman Mike Mecucci missed Saturday's games.
"We had people playing positions they don't ordinarily play and it showed."
Things looked promising for the Copper Kings Friday afternoon, when they took a 7-1 lead into the fifth inning of the opening game of the doubleheader. Then, everything that could go wrong for Bisbee did go wrong as the Kings committed error after error and the Gears made hit after hit, sending 17 men to the plate to score 12 runs.
A four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth inning brought Bisbee within two runs of the Gears. The Copper Kings added a final run in the sixth inning to put the score at 13-12.
Mesa scored four more runs in the top of the seventh to win 17-12.
Kyle Cormier was the losing pitcher for Bisbee.
Mike Mecucci led Bisbee's batters, going three for four for the Copper Kings. Catcher Mike Lopez, centerfielder Armando Moran and left fielder Chance Ruggeroli each produced a pair of hits for the home team.
The second Friday game featured ex-Tucson Toros pitcher Eric Schaler on the mound for the Copper Kings. Schaler cruised through the first inning but was hammered in the second and third, giving up eight runs before he was relieved in the third inning by Dominique Davis.
"Eric didn't tell us he'd been sick for three days prior," said Pennington. "Friday was the first day he really felt OK, and he just ran out of gas."
Davis faced five Gears batters before he took a line shot on his arm and left the game, replaced by Calen Pennington.
Mesa led the Copper Kings 13-1 as Bisbee came to bat in the bottom of the third inning.
A four-run Kings rally in the third, a fifth run added in the fifth inning and two final runs in the seventh weren't enough to close the gap on the Garden of Gears. The game ended with Mesa up 15-7.
Schaler was tagged for the loss. Newcomer Armando Moran blasted out a three-run homer in the third inning for Bisbee. Moran, who also started the season playing with the Toros, Mike Mecucci, Calen Pennington and Miguel Trujillo each produced a pair of hits for the Copper Kings.
Things looked a bit more promising for the Copper Kings during the afternoon game of Saturday's doubleheader. Bisbee pitcher Brandon Orr limited the Gears to a single run during the first three innings, but gave up a pair of runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth before being replaced by ex-Puma Carlos Lopez.
The Copper Kings, trailing 5-0 as they went to bat in the bottom of the fifth, responded with two runs of their own.
Mesa added a sixth run to their total in the top of the sixth. Bisbee scored four runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 6-6 and threatened to add more, but left the bases loaded when designated hitter Brandon Berg popped up to make the third out.
The Gears added a pair of runs in the top of the eighth on a Dominic Gamboa home run to put the score at 8-6.
Armando Moran produced Bisbee's only hit in the last three innings. The game ended with Mesa leading the Copper Kings 8-6.
Carlos Lopez was the losing pitcher for Bisbee. Left fielder Justin Wright went three for five and batted in a pair of runs for the Kings. Armando Moran produced a pair of hits in four trips to the plate and third baseman Miguel Trujillo doubled to drive in two runs for Bisbee.
A win during the nightcap and final game of the series briefly appeared to be within reach in the early innings for the Copper Kings.
The Gears struck first in the top of the first, scoring five runs off Copper Kings pitcher Tyler Johnston.
Bisbee responded with six runs in the bottom of the second to take a 6-5 lead. Then, as the great Yankees catcher Yogi Berra would say, "It was déjà vu all over again."
Mesa knocked in three more runs in the third inning and drove Johnston to the showers in the top of the fourth after scoring another pair of runs. The Gears then proceeded to hammer relief pitcher Cody Bair from the mound in the sixth inning and then worked pitcher James Hampson over as they scored nine runs on six hits.
The Copper Kings staged a two run rally in the bottom of the sixth. It wasn't enough to keep the home team in the game which was stopped with the Gears leading 19-8 when the ten-run mercy rule was invoked.
Tyler Johnston was tagged with the loss for Bisbee. Brandon Berg went three for three to lead all Copper Kings batters.
For a time during Sunday's game the Sierra Vista All-Stars seemed ready to deal the Copper Kings another loss.
Bisbee scored a run in the bottom of the first and added two more in the second inning to lead the All-Stars 3-0.
Sierra Vista came back in the top of the third, scoring one run off Copper King starting pitcher Jacob Amos. The All-Stars added three more runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead.
Bisbee's bats then came to life, with the Kings scoring three runs in the fifth, three in the sixth, three in the seventh and two final runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Jacob Amos was credited with the win for Bisbee, pitching five innings. Ramon Fernandez threw four innings in relief for the Copper Kings.
Anthony Matias, Calen Pennington and Michael Lopez each produced three hits for Bisbee.
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