The Portage Padres opened the Santa Clara Baseball League Season with a win on home field last night. The Padres' bats came to life early, helping them knock off the Austin A's 11-5 at Rotary Republic Park.

The score was 7-2 after the first two innings, and Portage never looked back. Padres' Pitcher Roddy McLeod pitched the first 3 innings, Tanner Blight came in for the next 2, and Dustin Donald closed out the final 2. McLeod says he played pretty good considering it was his first time on the mound in 2 years.

McLeod throwing in the first inning

"It felt good, I was just more excited to get out here. I gave up a couple of big ones off the start, but settled in for the second and the third. I knew the boys would get me the two runs that I lost for us in the first innings.

Padres' Player Coach Tyler Butler talks about McLeod's return.

"Yeah, it was nice to have the man back. An extra arm in the line up, he threw a first pitch fastball that I'm sure he'd like to take back, but other than that I think he pitched very well."

Butler says they're bats were strong throughout the game.

Dustin Donald and the Big Red Stick

"Absolutely. The Big Red Stick, Dusty Donald, came through with 4 hits. I think he was 4 for 4 in his debut, so every body helped out at the plate. Every body was swinging, just everybody I think was pretty comfortable at the plate."

Other scores around the Santa Clara League go as follows: Carberry fell 10-3 to Plumas, Minnedosa blanked Neepawa 7-0, and Dauphin edged out Ebb and Flow 2-1. The Padres' next game is Wednesday against Carberry.