Knights pack a rare triple punch at plate

By JIM REESE
Published April 21, 2005

TAMPA - The Robinson baseball team has shown some signs of power - but nothing close to Tuesday night's performance.

Homers? Try three in a row off the same pitcher to start the game.

To get an idea of how rare this is, consider that only twice in Major League Baseball history, and possibly never in Hillsborough County history, has it happened.

The Knights opened Tuesday's game against Blake with back-to-back-to-back home runs from Eugene Garnett, Mike Robinson and Brad Roberts.

Two of the homers sailed over the centerfield fence and the third cleared the leftfield wall with plenty of room to spare.

According to ESPN and an article in the Washington Post, only twice in MLB history has a team started a game by hitting three successive home runs off the same pitcher.

Jeff Austin with Cincinnati in 2003 and Roger Mason with the San Francisco Giants in 1987 are the only big-league pitchers sharing that dubious distinction.

For Robinson, it appears a little incentive went a long way.

Before the week started, the Knights (13-7) didn't even earn honorable mention status in the state poll, while St. Petersburg Catholic, a team Robinson had shut out 3-0 earlier this season, did.

Heck, the Knights had even beaten tough district foe Jesuit last week, and the Tigers are ranked fourth in Class 3A.

So before Tuesday's games, Robinson's players got together and resolved to go out and "make some noise" to draw attention to their team, according to coach Sal Urso.

"In all of my 28 years in baseball, I've never seen this happen and I'm just thrilled for my guys that they were able to do it," Urso said.

By the way, Robinson won 13-1.

[Last modified April 21, 2005, 01:06:12]