Eight Single-A players yesterday "found themselves launching balls into San Diego Bay" for the Midway Classic, a home run contest between the California League and Carolina League, according to Jim Alexander of the Riverside PRESS-ENTERPRISE. The contest was held aboard the USS Midway ahead of tonight's California-Carolina League All-Star Game. MiLB went "all in on the concept itself," expanding on a '12 contest in S.C., when the "first round of a home run contest was held off the USS Yorktown." This time, the entire contest "was held on the carrier." But using just a portion of the carrier was "kind of limiting." There were "no bleachers, preventing spectators from really savoring the coolness of the scene and the majesty of these young sluggers redefining the term 'splash hit.'" Spectators gathered around barriers "surrounding the pitcher's rubber and batting cage, and in the area between an eight-foot fence and the ship's bow, 243 feet from home plate." Home run distance was marked in the bay, with "volunteers on jet skis, paddleboards and kayaks waiting to retrieve the home run balls." Lake Elsinore Storm GM Raj Narayanan said that the Padres "didn't have much of a role in the event" (Riverside PRESS-ENTERPRISE, 6/21). Bakersfield Blaze 1B Kyle Petty won the event, saying, "It was an awesome setting. Not many chances where you get to hit a baseball and it disappears into an ocean." In San Diego, Jeff Sanders notes music played during the final round, and attendees "snacked on all-you-can-eat sliders, wings and drinks." San Jose Giants 1B Chris Shaw said, "You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who'd thought they'd be hitting off this. It was a cool experience" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/21).
