Hero At Home...Well, Almost
Eric Pringle has long professed his enthusiasm for being in Chico with the Outlaws since being acquired from the Yuma Scorpions in the offseason.
On Saturday night, it was finally visible at Nettleton Stadium for all the team’s fans to see.
The 25-year-old second baseman pushed aside his paltry .140 batting average in home games with two keys hits that nearly fueled an Outlaw victory over until the Silver Sox fired back.
Pringle, a stark-opposite .431 hitter on the road this season, cracked a two-run single that put Chico ahead 4-2 in the fourth inning before reaching first base to lead off the seventh, advancing to second on a passed ball, scurrying to third on a Steve Boggs sacrifice fly and scoring on a Jesse Kovacs groundout to provide the Outlaws with the go-ahead run breaking a 5-5 deadlock.
The Silver Sox shot out to a 2-0 lead off Outlaws starting pitcher Nick Singleton in the first inning that was erased by the five-run rally in the fourth spurred on by Pringle’s two-RBI single. Reno then thatched two more runs to Singleton’s line in the sixth and evened the affair on Victor Hall’s solo home run off reliever John Segovia on the first pitch of the seventh.
That’s when Pringle and his sleak ways went to work. Picked up by the Outlaws from Yuma because of his steady defensive presence and maneuverability on the basepaths, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound Inglewood native put himself in position to score after getting to third base from second on a tag-up off a Boggs pop-out to the same side in left field.
“Some guys take chances on those plays and I knew Stevie Boggs was a good hitter who was going to move me up one way or another,” Pringle said. “I wasn't going to waste a good at-bat by him.”