In the first ever meeting between the Alameda Merchants and the Klamath Falls Gems, the Merchants used good pitching, timely hitting and took advantage of several walks to beat the Gems 15-3 at the College of Alameda on June 5th.

Alex Felder (Grambling State) scored on a passed ball in the 1st to help the Merchants grab an early 1-0 lead in the 1st. After that, it was a combination of shaky pitching by the Gems and timely hitting by the Merchants that broke the game open in the 2nd.

After the Gems walked two batters and hit two more batters, JP Soriano (Seminole State) and Xavier Freeman (Seminole State) hit back to back RBI doubles to quickly push the score to 8-0 in the 2nd inning.

Alameda chipped away for a few more runs over the next few innings with hits by Austin Johnson (Nebraska), Ryan Myers (Washington State) and Marcus Williams (Cal State East Bay).

Meanwhile, Alameda starting pitcher Blaze Hastings (Seminole State) was on point on the bump and had a no-hitter going until the Gems broke it up with a double down the right field line in the 5th inning. Hastings picked up the win for the Merchants - pitching 5 innings, giving up 3 hits, 2 runs and striking out 6.  On the season, Hastings has pitched 7 innings for the Merchants - picking up a win and a save along the way.

Next game for the Merchants is Tuesday June 7th against the West Coast Kings at the College of Alameda.

After splitting with the Healdsburg Prune Packers opening weekend and run ruling the Fresno Athletics, the win against Klamath Falls puts Alameda at 4-1 at the end of the first week of the season.