San Jose, CA.  This past weekend featured a double-header between two of last year's champions.  The Orioles, American Division Champions for the past two seasons, traveled to Gunderson and faced the Braves, 2011 Champions of the Pacific Division.  After losing to the Knights in the season opener, the O's needed to a good showing against the perennial powerhouse and in order to get on the win column.

In the morning game the O's sent Andrew Sheehan to the mound to face crafty veteran lefty Paul Codiga.  Sheehan, making his first start since the middle of the 2011 campaign, pitched four solid innings allowing only two runs while striking out three.

The O's offense was able to back Sheehan's efforts on the mound with 5 runs of support.  The first two runs came in the second inning when John Pardo, O's manager, Angelo Cordero, and Sal Sanchez jumped on Codiga with two singles and a triple to tie the game at 2-2.  In the fourth inning the Brouse brothers (Mark and Brian) also joined the trio of Pardo, Cordero, and Sanchez to drive in an additional three runs and give the Orioles a 5-2 lead.

However, the O's lead was short-lived as the Braves were able to take advantage of a number of errors in the fifth that led to six runs for the Braves.  The Braves were able to add three additional runs in their half of the sixth.  To add to the defensive miscues, the O's offense went into hibernation in the later innings.  By the final inning the O's came up short 11-7.

For the afternoon's game the O's sent Mark Brouse to the mound to make his first start of 2012.  Brouse was able to work efficiently through four innings while enjoying formidable run-support.

The O's were able to push across 7 runs in the second inning to take an 8 - 2 lead.  By the time Brouse was relieved in the fifth inning the O's enjoyed a 12 - 5 lead.  However, the Braves would not go quietly, they were still able to score 5 unanswered runs over two innings before running out of outs.  The O's were able to hang onto their 12 - 10 lead to secure their first win of the 2012 season.

With the win the O's now have a 1 - 2 record.  The O's will now take the week off for the Memorial Day holiday, before returning to action again on June 3rd.