Roadrunners, former Yuma players rock new-look Scorpions

With the new Yuma Scorpions still adjusting after arriving from Colombia 48 hours earlier, the old Yuma Scorpions were right at home.
 
All four former Scorpions now playing for St. George had a big hand in spoiling the Scorpions' opening night in a 13-3 win Friday at Desert Sun Stadium.
 
Former Scorpion A.J. Valentine got things started in the second with a two-run home run for the Roadrunners, and it was more than the Roadrunners needed.
 
The Scorpions had a chance to score in the first after the first two runners reached. But with runners on second and third and none out and then bases loaded with one out, the Scorps couldn't push a run across for an early lead.
 
"It's the first game, and we had a chance in the first inning and nothing happened," said acting coach Jackie Gutierrez. "We missed a good opportunity, then the game changed. I hope in the next couple days it will change for us."
 
The game was tight until the fifth when the Roadrunners struck for six, including an RBI single from Valentine that scored former Scorps catcher Jose Rodriguez, who reached base on an RBI-double. Yosvany Amario, who also played for the Scorpions last year, started the scorefest with a two-run triple.
 
The Scorpions - made up of all Colombian pro players after an affiliation deal was signed Wednesday - didn't score off St. George starter Eric Van Slyke, who pitched four innings. Yuma scored its first run in the fifth when Jose Mosquera singled and was replaced by Devis Rivadeneria at first on a fielders choice. He went to third on a Diover De Aliva double and scored on an Adolfo Gomez groundout.
 
The Scorpions tacked on two more in the sixth when Luis Acuna hit into what should have been a routine 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded and no outs, but the throw from second went wild.

The Roadrunners tacked on a ninth run when Henry Calderon, the final former Scorpion, hit a sacrifice fly in a two-run seventh. The Roadrunners also had a two-run eighth - both scoring on bases-loaded walks. The final run came on a D.J. Dixon RBI-double.
 
The teams meet at 7:05 p.m. today for the second game of a four-game series.