One of a kind moment, three of a kind results

In the rarest of moments on any level in baseball, the trio of Valentino Pascucci, Matt Cepicky and Scott Hodges launches three homers on three straight pitches 23 years ago tonight to lift the Harrisburg Senators over the Altoona Curve 4-2 in a Class AA Eastern League game on Harrisburg’s City Island.

The homers come in the bottom of the eighth inning off Altoona relief pitcher Geraldo Padua.

“When Val hit his home run, I thought their pitcher was going to want to get ahead in the count,” Cepicky says after the game.

“Nine out of 10 times, he’s going to want to put one in there because he doesn’t want to get behind. … You’re looking for something to drive.”

Hodges, after striking out 21 times in his first 51 at-bats of the 2001 season, simply is looking for something to hit.
“We talked before the game about cutting down on the strikeouts,” Hodges says of a pregame chat with manager Luis Dorante and hitting coach Eric Fox. “For me, it seems the count is always 0-2 before I get going.”

Pascucci and Cepicky eventually reach the majors with the Montreal Expos, while Hodges – perhaps the best prospect of the three – never gets there as his career is shortened by injuries and illness.

Their three swings 23 years ago tonight account for more runs in a matter of seconds than the Harrisburg Senators total in their previous 24 innings.

“We know we have some guys who can hit the ball a long way,” Hodges says. “It finally clicked for us tonight.”