McDougall home run propels 51s

Marshall McDougall's third home run in as many games was the biggest blow in the 51s' 8-4 victory over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in the first game of a Pacific Coast League doubleheader Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Rain forced postponement of the second of the two scheduled seven-inning games.

McDougall's homer, his fifth of the season, came immediately after reliever Ryan Speier (1-2) was called for a bases-loaded balk in the seventh inning that brought home the run that tied the score at 4.

Las Vegas (57-67) had taken a 3-0 lead with runs in each of the first three innings. Wilson Valdez led off with his third homer of the season, Ken Huckaby hit an RBI single in the second, and Chin-Lung Hu hit his fifth homer in the third.

Jayson Nix's two-run double helped Colorado Springs (62-62) pull even at 3 in the fifth, and Alvin Colina's pinch-hit RBI double in the sixth gave the Sky Sox their first lead.

Reliever Casey Hoorelbeke (4-4) won despite giving up three runs in 2 1/3 innings.

The teams are to play a doubleheader today starting at 3:30 p.m. in Colorado Springs.