Benefield: Hard-hitting Healdsburg Prune Packers keep it fun

HEALDSBURG - Tuesday was Mustache Night at Rec Park in Healdsburg.

Guys on the home squad Prune Packers readied for the game against the Redding Colt 45s sporting face fuzz, both real and imaginary, while fans milled around the green grandstands with felt facial hair stuck above their lips. When a Packer showed up with nary a hair on his upper lip, manager Joey Gomes pounced.

Gomes, boasting a full, natural beard of his own, etched a nice little fakey on the guy's upper lip.

'I can't even tell you how good you look,' Gomes said admiring his artistry.

A few hours later, the Prune Packers (and their mustaches) left Rec Park with yet another win, upping their summer record to 32-10 — a tally that puts them neck and neck for the most wins in California.

Welcome to summer league baseball, where the vibe is loose but the baseball is serious.

'When you develop the right way, you should win,' Gomes said.

Gomes should know.

A star at Casa Grande, Gomes played at Santa Clara and spent 10 seasons in the minor leagues, reaching the Double A level. In those years he developed something akin to a golden Rolodex of major league contacts and the majors is where the vast majority of the Prune Packers want to eventually land.

His players say his time in the game makes his insight invaluable.

Before Tuesday's game, Gomes sat with first baseman Jamey Smart, an incoming sophomore at Loyola Marymount University, and talked over timing at the plate.

That's why players come to Healdsburg in the summer, said Prune Packers director Gerry North, pointing to Gomes and Smart.

'Joey Gomes is a great coach,' said left fielder Marcus Still, who spent last year at LMU but will play for Scottsdale Community College next season. 'I wouldn't call him a coach, I would call him more of a teacher.'

That makes sense because these are college kids we are talking about.

After an affiliation with the minor leagues, last season the Prune Packers joined the Golden State Collegiate Baseball League, which relies exclusively on college athletes. This season, they are sticking with college athletes but struck out on their own. While still within the college summer baseball system (think Cape Cod or the Alaska Baseball League), they play independently.

Gomes, in his second year at the helm of the team, called the move a gamble, but one that has paid off.

The team has more control over its travel schedule and with that, has 37 home games this summer. And the Packers are continuing to draw an increasing number of players from top-tier college programs. About half of the Prune Packers' current roster is made up of Division I athletes. Gomes also has a strong contingent of guys who played their high school ball here, guys who are starring for Santa Rosa Junior College or Sonoma State and want to see their game evolve in the summer months.

Local guys Elliot North from Healdsburg High and now Concordia University, Jake Scheiner from Maria Carrillo High and Santa Rosa Junior College and Matt LoCoco, a graduate of Piner High who plays for the University of Hawaii, all suit up for the Packers.

'Local talent will always be here because it's good, it deserves to be here,' Gomes said. 'I'm a local guy. Baseball is really good around here. There will always be local talent.'

Proof: In June, two Prune Packers were taken in the Major League draft. Francis Christy, a Casa Grande grad and The Press Democrat's All-Empire Large School Baseball Player of the Year in 2013, was picked in the seventh round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Daniel Comstock, a Petaluma High grad who played college ball for Menlo College, was selected in the 18th round by the Diamondbacks.

Other Prune Packers want to follow suit.

Anthony Bender, a Casa Grande grad who plays for Santa Rosa Junior College, is a 95-mph pitcher who hits cleanup as the Packers' designated hitter.

With that résumé , Bender got inquiries to play his summer ball elsewhere. No dice.

'I really like the way things are run here. I've known Joey for quite a few years and I really like the vibe,' he said. 'The people he brought in are from good schools.'

Players come to Healdsburg typically with direct instructions from their college coaches on what to work on, where to focus their attention. Gomes speaks with an appreciation of what he is being entrusted to do.

'Those guys are like diamonds,' Gomes said. 'To me this is a pit stop in their careers. I want them to remember the summer of 2015 as maybe something that turned the corner.'

Gomes is trying to wrestle with a three-headed beast: He wants the Prune Packers to win. Check. He wants the program to gain a reputation as a place for college coaches to send top-caliber players to hone their game: Check. He wants the community to embrace the team and enjoy top-shelf baseball: Still working on it.

On Mustache Night, a gorgeous, warm evening in Healdsburg, there were maybe 100 people in the stands. Backers want to change that.

'It's 'Are you a Giants fan? Are you an A's fan?' But everybody can be a Packers fan,' Gomes said.

And you can be a Packers fan on the cheap. It's $5 for adults to get in, free for kids 12 and younger.

Oh and that other component.

'It's damn good baseball,' said Gerry North.

The damn good baseball continues through Aug. 1. The Prune Packers will host the Healdsburg Wine Country Classic, a six-team, three-day tournament featuring the likes of the San Francisco Seals, Novato Knicks, San Mateo Rounders and others. There are four games a day on July 30 and July 31 and two and possibly three games on Aug. 1.

As an independent team, the Prune Packers don't have a chance to 'win league,' so taking the title of their own tournament has added importance.

'It's at our home field, so we'd better be dog piling,' Elliot North said.

Loose, yet serious — it's the Prune Packers' way.

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield.