Two from Reno
by James on Apr.26, 2009, under Minor League Baseball, Trips
For Scout.com I mostly cover affiliates of the Oakland A’s, but the nice thing about it is I can get out to cover more than just their teams. Last week I was in Reno for two games during the first homestand at brand new Aces Ballpark (no corporate sponsorship for it yet) and I’d recommend it to anyone who may be curious to check out a new place that’s not too hard to get to depending on your location.
Reno is the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks and they relocated from Tucson in the offseason, opening play on April 17 in a downtown ballpark that’s literally blocks from the main casinos. There’s going to be a “new shiny” feel to anything like this, but if Wednesday afternoon’s crowd of about 4,500 is a sign then the Aces are going to enjoy good crowds for a while.
The ballpark itself is quite nice, though there are certain things they could stand to do to improve it. I like the open concourses and multiple areas to stand behind the seats and the high left field wall (you can walk around the entire place), and their right field bullpen/berm area makes it nice for fans to kick back and relax on the grass.
They need to utilize their graphics board more for stats and things like that, and they could use a board or two in the seating areas that at least give R-H-E along with the inning and score. It’s interesting in that the press box is located down the first base line instead of behind the plate. This is undoubtedly done to capitalize on being able to sell luxury suites behind the plate instead.
From a photography standpoint, I had no real problems and I enjoyed wandering around the place before the gates opened for the fans. I always like checking out new places to see just what kinds of design elements go into it. It’ll be interesting to see how the ballpark plays as the weather warms up. The wall is like a mini Green Monster in left and if the ball carries well it’ll keep some hits in the yard. The two games I was at, the wind blew out pretty strongly to right field and one ball was absolutely crushed to right center only to see Carlos Gonzalez run it down close to (probably) 425 feet from the plate.
As for the games themselves?
April 21: Colorado Springs 3, Reno 2
Matt Murton’s 2-run homer in the 5th inning gave Colorado Springs the lead for good and Josh Fogg worked 6 solid innings (4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) for the win. Murton had a pair of hits, as did Dan Ortmeier, Christian Colonel and Matt Miller, who hit a solo homer. Seth Etherton threw 7 innings for the Aces, pitching well except for the two homers (7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO). Josh Whitesell tripled and drove in a run for Reno.
April 22: Colorado Springs 16, Reno 8
Carlos Gonzalez led the way with 6 RBI on a double and a triple while Mike McCoy had had 4 hits and 4 runs and Matt Murton picked up 3 hits and 3 runs as Colorado Springs collected 20 hits. Jason Hirsh rebounded from an early 5-0 deficit to keep Reno scoreless over his last 5 innings, working 6 total. Chris Roberson homered, doubled and drove in a pair for the Aces and Brandon Watson also had a pair of hits, but Travis Blackley and the rest of the pitching staff had a rough day.
