5/18/2013-
By Karen Boehler
Pecos League writer

ROSWELL -- Friday, Invader fans had a chance to breathe easy for most of the game vs. Las Vegas, as, in contrast with the first three games between the two teams, Roswell went up early and continued to stretch the lead, winning 16-4.

The big difference was the second inning, which saw the Invaders send a bakers dozen to the plate, highlighted by the first of two home runs by Erick Gaylord.

"I knew Erick Gaylord could do that," said Roswell manager Chris Ebright. "I knew he could do that, thats why we brought him here, and hes got speed and power, which are two great things for a baseball player, obviously."

The Invaders left the bases loaded in the first without scoring, but they had no problem with that in the second. Andrew Deeds led off with a triple, then, one out later, Gaylord and Chad Kruse singled; Ryan Normoyle and Roger Bernal each reached on errors; Vincent Mejia walked; Mike McCarthy singled; Nate Theunissen doubled; and, now back where they started, Deeds doubled and that was it for Train Robber starter Anthony Nalepa.

But Chuck Fontana, just called up to Las Vegas, didnt do much better, giving up the Gaylord home run.

Will Walsh got the first Robber home run with a solo homer in the third, then singles by Randy Wells, Chris Wilson and Adam Kam in the fourth made it 10-2, but Roswell closed out the inning with a crowd-pleasing double play.

Roswell added another four runs in the bottom of the stanza, two coming off Gaylords second home run of the night, and two on a pair of walks and a single.

It wasnt the first time the right fielder had smacked two shots in a game -- the first time, he said, was in a summer league in 2011 -- and he wasnt even sure either was going out.

"They just kind of barely cleared the fence, so I ran hard, hit it hard and they happened to go out today," he said.

The fifth and sixth were scoreless, then, with Eric Lambe in in relief of starter David Mueller, Las Vegas got two runs on an error, walk and Chris Wilson double. But that was all Las Vegas could score, and the Invaders added an insurance pair in the eighth on a Lambe single and Normoyle home run.

"A little surprising," Ebright said of the left-fielders blast. "We knew he had a little pop, but we didnt know he had left-center pop being a left-handed hitter."

For Las Vegas manager Casey Dill, the loss was more of the same. "Were consistently the same team every night," he said. "I cant expect us to put up 12 runs every game. It would be nice to think that we would. I think most games we are going to put up a lot of runs and tonight we didnt, but any game, no matter how many runs you score, if you have a 10-run inning and you give up 10 hits in three innings and youre walking guys, youre not going to win many baseball games. It was the same game, kinda different circumstances, different innings that it happened in, but its no different than Game 2 or Game 3, but we just have one inning where we completely implode."

While every Invader who went to the plate except Mueller had at least one hit -- with Deeds 4-for-5 with three runs and 2 RBI -- the "Mueller /Lambe combination held Las Vegas to just seven hits.

"They did great, and that what we look for from our pitchers," Ebright said.

Gaylord said hes not surprised at the early-season Roswell success.

"Actually, weve got a pretty good group of guys," he said. "I think were pretty talented. Were starting to gel together, and honestly we havent even hit our stride yet. Weve got a good bunch of guys who come out and work hards every day and its paying off, so Im expecting great things out of our team."

Dill is trying to keep a good outlook despite the 0-4 start..

"Im staying positive, as this point, I look at this more or less as our spring training," he said. "Because I didnt have a baseball field to accurately assess these guys. We did our best with what we were provided. We had a bullpen and we had a batting cage, and I cant accurately assess how hitters hit live pitching and our pitchers face live hitting if we dont have those opportunities."

Dill said hell keep looking for a combination that works, and in the mean time, the two teams will wrap up the series Saturday a 7 p.m. in Roswell.