Vidalia La. boy shines | TigerFan.com

DJM136 · Jul 4, 2009

Jarrett Hoffpauir, son of Vidalia High baseball coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir, former Vidalia High Viking and Southern Miss Eagle, was called up to the majors on July 1st after a few years in the minors. What a way to get your first big league hit. Congrats to Jarrett and family!

CINCINNATI -- Albert Pujols was the star, but you didn't have to be clairvoyant to see that coming. Rookie Jarrett Hoffpauir was the hero, though, and that one was a little harder to predict. Hoffpauir's two-out, two-run single in the top of the ninth gave the Cardinals the deciding runs in a hard-fought 7-4 win on Friday, a victory only made possible when Pujols broke yet another pair of records an inning before. Pujols hit his fourth grand slam of the season and the 10th of his career, each number setting a new Cardinals franchise mark, as St. Louis rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win its third straight game.
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In the ninth, though, the Cards rallied again, and Rasmus again started it with a single -- this time after the Reds retired the first two St. Louis batters. Ryan followed with a single, and Schumaker reached on an error by shortstop Paul Janish. Hoffpauir got his first big league hit and RBI on an 0-1 pitch, placing it perfectly in shallow left field. Pujols followed with an RBI double for insurance. "Kind of surreal," Hoffpauir said. "I don't know if it's set in or not. But that's what I want to do. I wanted to come in and help the team win however I could. Luckily, I got a hit tonight that helped us out. ... You're just trying not to do too much. You try to punch it somewhere and get it to fall. Luckily, this time it did."
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Hoffpauir follows Pujols' lead for Cards | stlcardinals.com: News

Richdog · Jul 4, 2009

Great news and clutch hit. Too bad he's with the Cards.