Mariners Top 10 prospect wins it in 10th inning for Nuts in dramatic home opener

The late game heroics that led the Modesto nuts to the 2023 California League championship showed up again in the 2024 home opener against Lake Elsinore.

Down one run in extra innings, the top of the lineup came through when Mariners No. 9 prospect Michael Arroyo sent a blooper off his broken bat into left field with the bases loaded. Jonny Farmelo and Colt Emerson scored and Arroyo took off into the outfield, took off his jersey and waited for his teammates to mob him in left center field.

Arroyo and the Nuts combined for 10 hits in the 8-7 win as Modesto moved to 3-1 on the young season.

“Everyone understands that they’re able to keep fighting and keep clawing back and they’re confident in their abilities,” said manager Zach Vincej on how the team remains focused in comeback wins. “A huge part of this group is there’s no die in them.”

The Mariners’ top prospects led the way in the extra-innings affair. Infielder Tai Peete (No. 7) had a double, a triple and a team high three RBI. Emerson (No. 3), Arroyo, outfielder Lazaro Montes (No. 4) and Connor Charping all had two hits apiece.

Arroyo wasted no time in his 10th-inning at-bat. The second baseman made contact with the first pitch on the inside part of the plate, scoring Farmelo, who reached on a fielder’s choice, and Emerson, who walked.

“It looked like (the pitch) ran in on him, but as good of a hitter as he is, he’s able to keep his hands inside and not roll that ball over, which is what the pitcher is trying to get him to do,” Vincej said of Arroyo’s at bat.

Family fun

The game was truly a family event. During the game, dads in the stands called their sons — decked out in jerseys, baseball pants and hats — and sat them down to give them a personal Baseball 101 course. Pointing from the outfield to the infield to the pitcher after a hit, seemingly identifying the cut-off man and why each player moved into the position he did.

Kids filled the stands and ran the stairs. They are pretzels, snow cones, chicken tenders and fries, anything their parents could buy to keep them happy.

Those that weren’t in the bleachers flooded the Kids Zone. They jumped around in the bounce house and visited the Mo’Town Memorabilia booth — all while dodging foul balls that flew over the bleachers down the first-base line.

In addition to seeing some of Seattle’s promising young stars on the field, one of the biggest draws of the night was off the field. The Nuts handed fans replica California League championship rings. When gates opened at 6 p.m., vouchers were handed out to the first 500 people through the gate. From the start of the fifth to the end of the sixth innings, fans lined up near the concession stand to receive their piece of Modesto Nuts history.

The perfect way to put a cap on last season and thank those who helped the team bring the title home.

“It was fun to look back and see all of (the fans),” Vincej said.

The team feeds of the manager late in games

The Nuts could have given up multiple times during Tuesday’s home opener. After going up 3-0 in the first they gave up 5 straight runs, trailing 5-3 after five innings. They tied it in the sixth, but the Storm answered with a run in the top of the seventh. But they never folded.

They didn’t get too high or too low. They tied the game in the bottom of the eighth and allowed just one run in the 10th before scoring twice in the bottom half of the inning.

With nearly all of the starting position players back from last season, it seems like the team is taking on the persona of its even-keeled manager. Vincej is a former pro ball player, an infielder who played eight minor league seasons and appeared in 10 major league games between Cincinnati and Seattle. He won a Rawlings Minor League Gold Glove at shortstop for the Reds Double-A affiliate and made his Major League debut with the Reds on Aug. 1, 2018. He is in his second season as Nuts manager.

“I try to be even-keeled whether it’s going bad or going well,” he said. “My job is to make sure the dugout is still having that belief system that we can still come back even after we had some tough times at the beginning of the game.”

Vincej says the win helped the team put a cap on last season while propelling them to what he hopes is a successful first home series. The Nuts stay in town for five more games against Lake Elsinore Wednesday through Sunday.

“It was a good crowd tonight, I think it was good for them to get that first win out of the way here at home,” Vincej said. “We just have to keep (taking) it one game at a time.”