Thursday was a benchmark night for the Salt Lake Trappers.
- With a 3-for-5 outing in the last Trapper regular-season home game, Rick Hirtensteiner won two-thirds of the Pioneer League batting triple crown.- The Trappers beat the 200,000 season attendance mark by 705.
- Mark Stephens pitched three innings and struck out seven to win the Pioneer League strikeout championship with 89 to teammate Kevin McDonald's 85.
- Willie Ambos got a hit in the only at-bat of his 4-year pitching career.
- Catcher Willie Smith pitched two-thirds of an inning.
- And pitcher Dan Furmanik serenaded the crowd postgame, playing guitar at home plate and singing a song he and Smith wrote on their first bus trip.
Yes, the pressure was off for a few hours, and the Trappers responded with an 18-hit, 9-6 victory over Pocatello in the season finale at Derks Field.
"It was a fun day," said Trapper Manager Nick Belmonte, who rested four regulars and used catcher Dave Rolls only as designated hitter.
The win gave the '91 Salt Lake team a 49-21 record, equalling the club record set in The Year of The Streak, 1987.
"It's a great way to end the season," said Belmonte, who takes his team by bus today to Great Falls, where they will start a best-of-three championship playoff with the Dodgers Saturday night. Game 2 is Monday in Derks Field, and Game 3, if needed is Tuesday in Derks.
Salt Lake finished with five straight wins and took 16 of its last 18 games. It won the Southern Division a week ago and had the PL's best overall record.
Hirtensteiner homered for two RBI in the first inning, giving him the league title in homers with 11. He won the league RBI race with 71, seven up on teammate Benny Castillo. Hirtensteiner had a .356 batting average, among the league's top five, and his 105 hits and 77 runs scored top the league.
He's a leadoff man most of the time. "It's uncharacteristic of baseball to have that happen," said Belmonte, "but it does say something about the bottom part of our batting order getting on base ahead of him."