With the Suns playing their best ball of the season, the Thrashers could have only hoped for an off day for Saturday’s game. No such luck. By the time the Thrashers pushed across their only run, the Suns had built an 8-0 lead, with Stan Antonuk and all-stater Jay Cary doing most of the damage.
Antonuk followed a leadoff single by Hewitt in the second with his first homer of the game, a majestic shot over the fence in left, to make it 2-0 and kick-start a five-run rally capped by Joe Perote's RBI double to left to score Billy Thompson.
The other two runs in the inning were the result of the first of three Donaldson errors in the game. With Jake Jones at first base after reaching on a fielder's choice, Tim Hammel laid down a perfect bunt to the left side. Thrashers third baseman Luke Simmons fielded the ball cleanly but threw wildly past first base, allowing Jones to score and Hammel to advance to third.
Graham then tried to squeeze with Hunter Marcum on a 2-0 pitch, but Marcum missed an outside pitch that went all the way to the backstop, and, as a result, Williams ended up with a steal of home to put
Stan Antonuk hit his second home run -- a line drive that landed 30 feet beyond the left field fence -- with one out in the third to make it 6-0, and the Suns added two more runs in the fourth on fly ball doubles by Hamilton with one out (on a ball the outfielders appeared to lose in the sun) and Thompson (which fell behind first base and plated Hamilton) and a sharp RBI single to left by Ford.
The Suns scored five times on just two hits in the fifth, but both were home runs -- a line drive over the fence in left by Stan Antonuk leading off and an inside-the-park job by
After Antonuk's blast,
The ball rolled to the wall, where center fielder
Stan Antonuk's three-homer explosion gave him four in the tournament and pushed him past Grogan for the team lead with 13 this season. Hamilton and Smith, the 1-2 hitters in the lineup, added two hits apiece, and Hammel was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBIs in the win.