Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 29, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C2 C 2 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, MONDAY, JULY 29, 2013 BASEBALL winnipegfreepress. com SUBJECT TO CLASSIFICATION. A new winner will be printed from August 6 - 10, 2013. Watch for your name to be printed in the Winnipeg Free Press. If your name appears, call 697- 7224 to claim your prize. Contest closes noon August 9, 2013. The winner( s) must correctly answer a time- limited, skill- testing question in order to claim their prize. Winners must pick up their passes at The Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Avenue front reception before noon August 14, 2013, or another winner will be drawn. Entrants 17 years of age or younger must have parental consent to enter. Full contest rules available by contacting the Winnipeg Free Press. No purchase necessary. Odds of being selected as a winner depend on the total number of eligible email entries received. Approximate retail value of a Double Movie Pass is $ 25.00. For your chance to win go to www. winnipegfreepress. com/ contests Win Passes to the Advance Screening of JOBS Wednesday, August 14, 7: 00 pm, Cineplex McGillivray IN THEATRES AUGUST 16 CONTESTS RemstarFilms remstarfilms. com THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF A TRUE ICON I F there was a photo of the moment Chris Salamida walked into the Goldeyes clubhouse, it would have been full of faces lit by more than lights. The pitcher was supposed to be retired until he landed in Winnipeg last week, wandering through the Shaw Park stomping grounds that were, for three seasons, his professional home. He saw a lot of new faces on a team that's greatly changed from the group that won last year's American Association championship. But there were a lot of familiar grins too, old friends with whom he won it all. " There's nothing like seeing the smiles on the whole team's faces," Salamida said, a day after putting the exclamation mark on his return with a winning start Saturday. " When I came back, I was just hanging out in ( the clubhouse), and Amos ( Ramon) comes in and his face was beet red, biggest smile from ear to ear. It makes you feel good. It makes you feel wanted." How's this for wanted: When the Goldeyes officially signed Salamida back on Saturday, manager Rick Forney called the 29- year- old one of " the best starting pitchers in the league." Catcher Luis Alen said he was " so excited" upon learning he would be looking across the plate at Salamida again. After three years playing together, the two had built a lot of trust, Alen added. On Sunday, Goldeyes pitching rock Matt Rusch welcomed back the colleague with whom he'd won a championship ring. " It means the world to us," Rusch said. " He's a proven guy. He still has a big love for the game. He's our bulldog. He's going to go out there and really help this team, I think." In only one start, he already has. On Saturday, Salamida made his first pro start since last year's playoffs, taking the mound to warm applause from a grateful Goldeyes crowd. He then proceeded to lock it down. He caged the visiting Trois- Rivi�res Aigles in an 8- 3 win, allowing only six hits in six full innings and striking out five. It helps that he kept throwing after leaving the pro game. Though announcing his retirement back in April on the same day as pitchers Ace Walker, Brian Beuning and Zach Baldwin, he joined the Albany Athletics in an amateur league near his home in upstate New York. He didn't exactly want to leave baseball. " I was just ready to move on to the real world," he said. The goal was to study to be a firefighter, and that plan hasn't changed - he's still working on completing the entrance requirements. But when he came back to Winnipeg for the home opener in May to accept his championship ring, the roar of the crowd brought him back to the love of the game. " I kind of got the itch then, being here and seeing the games," Salamida said, and he told pitching coach Jamie Vermilyea to keep him in mind if they needed help. The two stayed in touch, and when Salamida felt ready to compete, he dialled Vermilyea again. With lefthanded starter Mark Hardy headed to the inactive list while healing from an injury, the team had room for Salamida to come up. Now, Salamida hopes to help the Goldeyes climb into a playoff spot and keep their championship. They're currently well behind the North Divisionleading Fargo- Moorhead RedHawks, and sit in the middle of the wild- card pack, but the Fish are also on a hot streak, having won seven of their last 10. Maybe the returning pitcher's energy can help with that - and his first game back in the Fish fold, well, it felt a little fresh again. " It was like when I got signed professionally," Salamida said. " It was those jitters and nerves in me, and then the adrenaline kicks in and you take it from there." melissa. martin@ freepress. mb. ca GOLDEYES 6 AIGLES 5 T he winning score came not off a heroic hit, but two bungled balls, and as the Fish flooded the field in victory you could almost hear them all exhale. At first, it all seemed a little too easy. For five straight innings the Fish swarmed the Aigles, keeping them caged up at the plate and scrambling across the field. Starter Matt Rusch allowed only a single hit in those first five frames while striking out five. He was rolling. Meanwhile, the Fish hitters came out to play, banging out nine hits in those first five, cashing in for three runs and drawing a few walks along the way. All nine would finish with at least one base hit, but it wouldn't end so cleanly; the Aigles had fight in them yet. In the sixth, the visitors pounced on one error and what Rusch would later acknowledge were a few of his mistakes, banging out three hits and capitalizing on an Amos Ramon error to put two past home plate. With Rusch's pitch count creeping up, manager Rick Forney put reliever Kaohi Downing in the game, but the first hitter he saw - outfielder Jon Smith - crushed a three- run homer to give the Aigles a 5- 3 lead. The Fish responded quickly, tying things up in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI double by outfielder Ryan Scoma and an RBI single by heavy- hitter Casey Haerther after that. The bullpen and defence combined to keep the Aigles stuck at five, and in the ninth, it happened: A pair of Aigles errors paved the way for pinch- runner Jordan Guida to come home, stopping the clock at three hours and 19 minutes to the cheers of a relieved crowd. The win pushed the Fish above .500 on the season and gave them a 2- 1 series lead going into today's final game of the series. . GAME BREAKERS . He might want his half of the sixth inning back, but Rusch's first five were beautiful, as he pounded the Aigles with searing fastballs. . First baseman Casey Haerther delivered, walloping three singles for two RBI - including the game- tying Ryan Scoma dash - in four at- bats. . KEY PLAY The architecture of the walk- off win started when catcher Luis Alen - who has been phenomenal this series and banged out three hits in four at- bats and coaxed a walk in this game - singled to get on base, then bit on an Aigles error to make it to second. Guida came in to run for him, and with two outs on the board, Ramon banged out a ground ball that Aigles shortstop David Cooper couldn't handle. The error allowed Guida to race home. . FISH WRAP The crowd offered robust applause for veteran outfielder Fehlandt Lentini after he swiped third base in the second inning, officially setting the record for all- time base steals in independent ball with 332. He had tied the previous record in Friday's game. Meanwhile, Matt Rusch tipped his hat to the Aigles hitters that gave the Goldeyes a scare. " Things kind of sped up there, but you have to give them credit," Rusch said. " They hit some mistakes I threw out there, which good teams are going to do. I was cruising there for a little bit, and then after that just kind of settled in and hit that rough patch, but good win for the guys in the end." . ON THE HOOK The Fish wrap up the four- game Aigles series in a 7 p. m. tilt at Shaw Park today, then get ready to welcome the visiting Lincoln Saltdogs for four. - Martin MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Fehlandt Lentini makes history after stealing third base Sunday. A champion returns to open arms Salamida throwing quality stuff and his Goldeyes mates can't hide their smiles By Melissa Martin ' There's nothing like seeing the smiles on the whole team's faces' - Chris Salamida JESSICA BURTNICK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Chris Salamida was reunited with a ' so excited' battery- mate Luis Alen in Saturday's game vs. Trois- Rivi�res. C_ 02_ Jul- 29- 13_ FP_ 01. indd C2 7/ 28/ 13 10: 12: 14 PM ;