Express' Jimerson hits three homers

Charlton Jimerson hit three of Round Rock's seven home runs on Sunday night, but the Express squandered a six-run lead and lost to the Albuquerque Isotopes, 14-13.

The teams combined for 10 longballs as Jimerson had the first three-homer game of his six-year career. Luke Scott crushed two homers, while Joe McEwing and Brooks Conrad hit a pair of solo homers for the Express (29-19).

Tom Wilson, Robert Andino and Mark Little cleared the fences for the Isotopes (32-19).

"You ask anyone who has played here and they will say the ball flies. Tonight was the perfect example," Jimerson said. "It doesn't matter if you are 5-foot-8 or 6-foot-5, if you have a good swing, you can hit it out."

Jimerson followed Scott's three-run homer with a two-run shot in a six-run opening inning. He also crushed a solo shot in the third. Jimerson and Scott both homered again in the seventh.

Jimerson called the seventh-inning shot that went off the right field scoreboard one of the longest of his career. It also was the most comfortable he's felt at the plate in the past week.

"Over the last six games, I was finding little bloopers here and there, but I hadn't really hit a ball on the barrel," Jimerson said. "I was scratching to get a hit the past few days, working in the batting cage, trying to get my stroke back and today it just came together. They say that home runs come in bunches."

Round Rock scored in each of the first seven frames. The Express led, 10-4, in the fifth, but Jimerson had an idea the cushion would not hold up.

"I caught myself looking at the scoreboard when we were up by five or six runs, but I knew the lead wasn't safe in this type of game," he said.

The Isotopes took the lead for good with eight runs in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by a pair of three-run homers. Scott Seabol began the frame with an RBI double and Mike Colangelo walked ahead of Wilson's three-run blast.

Reliever Christopher Young walked and Eric Reed singled. Travis Driskill (3-4) came in and surrendered a three-run shot to Andino.

Mike Kinkade, who went 3-for-3, doubled and scored on Jason Wood's double to give Albuquerque a 12-10 lead.

Young (1-0) picked up the win, despite allowing two runs on three hits with one strikeout in 1 2/3 innings. Brad Clontz recorded the last three outs for his ninth save.

Jimerson was thinking about a homer when he batted with two outs in the ninth and the Express trailing, 14-13. But, pressing, he grounded out. Scott had barely missed his third homer earlier in the frame when he when he flied to deep center.

The last four-homer game in the Pacific Coast League came on April 21, 1998, when Eddie Williams of Las Vegas clouted four against Calgary. The 26-year-old Jimerson has five career two-homer games.