Home's sweet away from home

EL CENTRO, Calif. - The scoreboard beyond the right field fence at Stark Field was never turned on for the visiting Orange County Flyers and Yuma Scorpions Thursday night.

It wasn't the only set of bulbs not shining, but that didn't stop Hamzel Diaz from lighting up the place.

Wearing the El Centro Imperials uniforms with the rest of his teammates, the Yuma catcher belted a grand slam in the eighth inning to lead the Scorpions to a 5-2 win.

"He's got that short little swing, and their guy is throwing extremely hard," Yuma manager Mike Marshall said of Diaz. "If there's anybody that was going to see it, it was him. He'd seen about 150 pitches tonight, so I'm happy for him."

Diaz swung at the first pitch of his at-bat on Orange County reliever Dane De La Rosa's first pitch of the evening. It was his first home run as a professional.

"I was accustomed to the lights, so I didn't have a problem seeing the ball," Diaz said, speaking through an interpreter. "I like to look for that first pitch when they bring in a new pitcher."

A pair of singles from Jeremy Cleveland and Diaz were the Scorpions' only hits through seven innings before Mikael Jova led off the eighth with a ground-rule double. Jova scored on Cleveland's RBI single, and Yuma proceeded to load the bases for Diaz with a double b Yosvany Almario and an intentional walk to A.J. Valentine.

Brian Rios and Patrick Breen each homered for Orange County. It was nearly all the Flyers would need.

The Scorpions, playing the first of five games this season in El Centro dressed as the city's former Imperials team, will be back on June 8 against Calgary.

"We've got to brighten the place up a little bit," Marshall said, referring to the dozen or so burned out lights surrounding Stark Field. "If we can get the rest of the lights on there's a future here. The fans are enthusiastic. We want it to work here."

Despite not getting the win, Yuma's Jorge Perez fared much better in his second appearance this season. The right hander had his slider working, allowing just five hits and one walk with nine strikeouts in six innings.

O.C.'s Matthew Merricks tossed six shutout innings, striking out seven and facing the minimum number of batters. Ezequiel Ruvalcaba took the loss.

STINGER SHORTS: Contrary to some of their published schedules, Yuma and Orange County will not be playing on Sunday. ...The Scorpions released Matt Perks and Jeff Van Houten on Thursday, added second baseman Limberth Marin and activated Anthony Romero.