Witter Blasts Three-Run Shot At PETCO Park
June 11, 2007 | Baseball
June 10, 2007
By Sandy Burgin / Special To MLB.com
SAN DIEGO -"A small dream come true."
That's how Adam Witter of the San Jose Giants described his first Major League ballpark experience Saturday in what turned out to be a wild and crazy California League game at PETCO Park.
"It was amazing," said Witter, who had a three-run homer in the ninth and two-run single in the 10th. "Being in the big-league atmosphere and then hitting the home run in a big-league stadium is a small dream come true."
Witter may well have been speaking for all members of the Giants and Lake Elsinore Storm, who played in Saturday's dramatic 10-inning, 9-9 tie that will resume Sunday at The Diamond at Lake Elsinore. The game was halted just before 6 p.m. as the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners had a regularly scheduled game to play.
Witter was one of five players who hit home runs Saturday at the usually home-run challenged PETCO Park.
Matt Antonelli, the San Diego Padres first-round draft choice from last season, hit his ninth home run over the center-field fence leading off the bottom of the first. And two batters later, Kyle Blanks hit his 12th home run off the façade of the second deck in left field.
Antonelli, who has moved to second base from third, also had a double in the ninth when the Storm wiped out a 6-4 lead and a single in the 10th when the Storm erased a 9-6 lead to send it into Sunday.
"It was cool, we all had a lot of fun here, said Antonelli, "and it sure was a pretty crazy game. But at least we got 10 innings to do it in and there were a lot of fans there.
"When I was drafted I flew down and took some BP and ground ball and stuff like that at PETCO and that was cool, but it was nice to play a real game here."
After hitting the first-inning homer and returning to the dugout, Antonelli said his teammates told him "this isn't supposed to be a home run park here."
"I just got enough to get it over the wall.
"Any home run is a good feeling, but to do it at a big-league park, leading off the game is pretty cool," said Antonelli.
It was even more special in that Antonelli's mother and father had flown into San Diego to see the game.
David Freese also hit his ninth homer for the Storm, a two-run, two-out shot into the right-field bleachers in the bottom of the 10th that tied the game at 9-9.
"What a thrill. It felt real good, especially to tie it up," said Freese, who began the day going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and finished the day with two singles and the clutch home run in the last four innings.
"It looked like it was going to be a terrible day," said Freese, "but that's why you have to go out there and stay focused and just fight every pitch."
Freese, like his teammates, noted that like the Storm's home is like PETCO in that the ball flies out during the day and the thick air keeps the ball in at night.
Blanks, who said he hadn't heard much about PETCO Park and its reputation said of his homer, "I thought it was gone right away. I got pretty much all of it."
After hitting the first-inning homer, Blanks was walked three straight times. He struck out to end the ninth, but came through with a double in the 10th.
Storm starting pitcher Brent Carter, who went the first seven innings, was very happy to be at PETCO.
"Last season when we played here I was injured," said Carter. "It meant a lot to me to be out there today. It was just a great feeling."
When Carter left the game the Giants had taken a 3-2 lead on a solo home run by Pablo Sandoval in the top of the seventh. Sandoval also had a double, a single and a walk.
The Storm tied the game in the bottom of the seventh at 3-3 when Freese singled home Yordany Ramirez, who had singled and stole second.
Witter hit his three-run home run with two out in the ninth to make it 6-4. And after the Storm tied it with two in the bottom of the ninth, it was Witter's two-run single that staked the Giants to a 9-6 lead, alas setting the stage for Freese's game-tying homer in the 10th.
"Obviously I'd like to be wearing a big-league uniform whenever I do it next time," said Witter. "But it's an amazing atmosphere and it's just a small taste of what's to come."
Sandy Burgin is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.
