Las Vegas bats shine in opener

Victoria Sun

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

Unlike the parent Los Angeles Dodgers who have mustered a pitiful two runs in their first three games, the Las Vegas 51s had little trouble scoring in their season opener.

The 51s' young prospects showed their potential and the veterans displayed their worth in a 17-6 victory over the Calgary Cannons before an announced paid crowd of 6,816 at Cashman Field on Thursday night.

"The guys were great tonight," 51s manager Brad Mills said. "They were a little nervous early, but I think once we got those mistakes out of the way and got a couple of hits we got more comfortable.

"The guys swung the bats very well which compensated for the mistakes."

51s reliever Shane Nance allowed one run on four hits and struck out two in 1 2/3 innings for the win while Cannons starter Claudio Vargas surrendered seven runs in 3 1/3 innings in taking the loss.

The 51s erupted for nine runs off Cannons reliever Kennie Steenstra in the sixth and eighth innings.

Joe Thurston, the 22-year-old infielder who hit .267 with seven home runs and 46 RBIs at double-A Jacksonville last season, went 2-for-6 with a two-run homer, three runs scored and three RBIs in his triple-A debut.

"I'm just very happy to be here playing with this good group of guys," Thurston said. "Early on, I didn't feel my timing was on so I made a couple of adjustments.

"I didn't think I hit it that hard."

Six of the 51s had two or more hits.

Scott Pose, who has major league experience playing for Florida, the New York Yankees and Kansas City in 12 professional seasons, went 4-for-5 with two doubles, three runs and three RBIs.

Playing his first professional regular season game at first base, Chin-Feng Chen committed an error, but went 2-for-4 with three runs scored.

Luke Allen, who hit .290 with 16 home runs and 73 RBIs at double-A Jacksonville last season, went 3-for-6 with two runs and one RBI.

After spending all spring playing day games in Vero Beach, Allen was excited to make his return to Las Vegas. He appeared in two games here last year.

"They were telling me to be patient and don't be satisfied with three hits if you can get four," Allen said. "I knew they were going to try to make me swing at bad pitches.

"Everything went smoothly. I can't complain."

Guillermo Mota, traded to the Dodgers from the Montreal Expos, recorded the final out of the sixth inning and retired seven straight batters before being relieved in the ninth by veteran Ricky Bones, who got the final three outs.