Baseball is a beautiful game that shows us different things on different days. As fans we really never see the same thing happen twice over a period of two different games. Each day we see something new. And this can be said for a Minor League game that took place on Sunday June 28th, 2009 between the Lake Elsinore Storm and the High Desert Mavericks. These two teams, of Class-A ball, combined for a 33-18 final score.

Lake Elsinore is an affiliate of the San Diego Padres and High Desert is an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. More than one record was broken in the game but only two records dealt with an individual effort from two of the players involved in this historic game.

The personal record is a 36 game hitting streak set by James McOwen of High Desert. His two hits in six at-bats broke the California League record for consecutive games with a hit.

“I feel the same as I did yesterday and probably the day before,” McOwen said. “I guess it’s a little monkey off the back just to say you got it done. I didn’t want to fall one-game short or end in a three-way tie. I’m pretty much the same guy I was before.”

The game was the longest in league history, at four hours and ten minutes, but did not go past nine innings. The Lake Elsinore Storm broke the league record for hits in a game with 32. The record was previously held by Stockton (8/1/93) and Rancho Cucamonga (8/10/97) with 29 hits in a game.

The two teams combined for 51 runs, a new league record, while the Storm also set the league record for RBIs in a single game. With their 33 runs, the Storm fell one run shy of the league record for runs scored in a game by a team.

Matt Clark, of Lake Elsinore, set the league record for runs scored in a game with seven. He fell a double shy of hitting for the cycle after going five for six at the plate. He added two homeruns and five RBIs.

Each team also blasted five homeruns apiece for a total of ten for the game. High Desert Nathan Adcock started on the mound and allowed eight runs (all earned) on seven hits in only 2/3 of an inning worked. Surprisingly his ERA only jumped to 4.54.

Ironically, on June 20th, Adcock threw eight scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and two hits allowed against Inland Empire for his fifth win of the season. That’s why the game of baseball is such a beautiful sport. Anything can happen once the umpire yells ‘Play Ball!’

Jeffress was taken with the Brewers first overall pick in the 2006 First-Year Player’s Draft at pick number 16. He received a $1.55 million signing bonus from the organization. Jeffress’ past has come into question after this positive test because his agent claims that the test was not for performance enhancing drugs but for another drug. That other drug is reportedly marijuana.

Jeffress tested positive for a banned substance towards the end of the 2007 season. Jeffress admitted to the media that his positive test was for marijuana. That suspension was for 50 games, which carried over into the 2008 season. He was pitching at High Class A Brevard County, which has only 75 games remaining in their 2009 season, prior to his suspension. This means that his second suspension will carry over into the 2010 season.

“All I’ll say is it was not a performance-enhancing drug. We all know the issue Jeremy has had in the past. He obviously has a very sensitive issue he has to overcome. This is all about Jeremy now. This is a problem that goes beyond his career. It’s more important to get the person fixed. He wants to have a healthy and productive life, much less baseball,” said Josh Kusnick, Jeffress’ agent.

Jeffress also tested positive for marijuana in a test administered by the Brewers organization after his first 50 game suspension and was disciplined by the franchise. In six games (five starts) for Brevard County, Jeffress was 2-1 with a 2.18 ERA in 33 innings. He was demoted from Class-AA Huntsville after going 1-3 with a 7.57 ERA at the start of the season.