There was a pall over the Cons' Home Opener as the Elvis Cup Championship rings were presented to the nine remaining members of the 2002 title team, with the Jailbirds off to the worst start in franchise history, having been swept on the road by the Norsemen, an ignominious debut that included being no-hit on Opening Day.
Spirits weren't raised when Alfonso Soriano belted a one-out, two-run home run in the top of the first inning, sending the visiting American Eagles out to an early lead. That lead was cut in half in the second, when Carlos Delgado hit the 'Birds' first big fly of the season - it came with no one on. But the Champs would never be heard from again. Their closest call with home plate came in the seventh, when Jim Edmonds came to the plate with runners on second and third and two out - and lined out to second.
Tupelo tacked an insurance run on in the ninth, when Benito Santiago led off by taking Grant Roberts deep, and Mike Williams slammed the door shut around his own ninth-inning error to drop the Jailbirds to 0-4 on the new season.
Game Day 4:
Eagles 200 000 001 3 7 2
Jailbirds 010 000 000 1 6 1
Eagles:
Pitching - Trachsel (W) 6.1, Santana 0.2, Williams (SV) 2
Catching - Santiago 9
Home Runs - Soriano (off Ohka, 1st inn., 1 on, 1 out)
Injuries - None
Limits - None
Jailbirds:
Pitching - Ohka L (0-1) 6.2, Hamilton 0.1, Roberts 2
Catching - VWilson 8, Hundley 1
Home Runs - Delgado (1, off Trachsel, 2nd inn., 0 on, 1 out)
Injuries - None
Limits - OPalmeiro (1 ABR)
Night game, 70s, Clear, Wind Blowing Out 10-19 MPH, Normal ump
The Jailbirds could only hope things would be better as Pedro Martinez took the mound for Game 2, dragging his 5.14 ERA to the Kauffman Stadium mound. The game was played under a constant threat of rain, much to the dismay of the Cons, who needed a great effort from their starting pitcher.
They didn't get it. With one out in the second inning, Pedro gave up five straight hits, the first a home run to David Bell, then a single, double and two more singles, and it was 3-0 Tupelo. The Cons FINALLY got something going in the third inning.
With six runs scored in the entire season to that point, the Jailbirds mounted a two-out rally that was Missouri baseball at its finest. Carlos Delgado walked, Manny Ramirez singled him to second, and Jim Edmonds was hit by a pitch to load the bases, setting the stage for Shannon Stewart, who immediately took over the club's RBI lead, driving in his first three of the season with a game-tying triple.
The Cons could feel their fortunes turning as Pedro threw a 1-2-3 fourth with two strikeouts, but then the skies opened. The rains came, hard, forcing the game to be delayed and neither Martinez nor Jeff Weaver could answer the bell when the game restarted.
The 'Boids got to Eagles reliever Chad Paronto in the fifth, as he hit Delgado with one out, then issued back-to-back walks to Ramirez and Edmonds, once again bring Stewart to the plate with the sacks drunk. This time, Shannon came through with a ground ball to second that scored a run to give the Cons the lead, and Eric Hinske followed with a two-run single to make it 6-3 - the Jailbirds had equalled their entire run output for the first four games of the season combined!
Grant Roberts, Rafael Soriano and Armando Benitez held the Eagles to just one hit the rest of the way, and Mizzou had broken its maiden for the 2003 season!
Game Day 6:
Eagles 030 000 000 3 7 0
Jailbirds 003 030 00x 6 8 1
Eagles:
Pitching - Weaver 3, Paronto (L) 2, Heredia 3
Catching - Santiago 8
Home Runs - DBell (off P. Martinez, 2nd inn., 0 on, 1 out)
Injuries - None
Limits - None
Jailbirds:
Pitching - P. Martinez 4, Roberts W (1-0) 2, Soriano 2, Benitez SV (1) 1
Catching - VWilson 9
Home Runs - None
Injuries - None
Limits - Larson (1 ABL)
50s, Cloudy, Wind Blowing Left to Right 10-19 MPH, Rain delay after top of 4th.
The hotly anticipated all-lefty match-up between Mizzou's Odalis Perez and Tupelo's Al Leiter in the rubber match of the series was rained out and rescheduled for Game Day 43.