DENVER, CO—Winthrop head baseball coach
Tom Riginos made a special visit on Monday to the Mile High City to watch his son, Ben Paulsen, make his Major League Baseball debut with the Colorado Rockies.
" I don't have the words that can explain how special the last 48 hours have been. I believe that every Father/Coach dreams that their son will play in the major leagues someday. I have been blessed to be able watch my son Ben play in the major leagues for the Colorado Rockies on Monday night. It was a very surreal moment and something I will never forget. Ben has work extremely hard to get to this point and I am very proud of him"
Paulsen, who played at Clemson when his dad was an assistant coach for the Tigers, was called up from the Colorado Springs (AAA) Sky Sox after the Rockies placed first baseman Justin Morneau on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday. Paulsen made the short trip up I-25 to Coors Field for his memorable MLB debut against the Washington Nationals on Monday night and was in the starting lineup again on Tuesday evening.
The 26-year-old left-handed hitting first baseman started on Monday and Tuesday nights and went 2-for-4 in both games while batting sixth in the order. Even though his team lost to the Nats both nights, 7-2 and 7-4, Paulsen was a tough out at the plate. On Monday night, with his dad watching from the Coors Field seats, he drilled a line drive to left field in his first plate appearance for his first big league hit and then had his first RBI on a single in the sixth inning that cut the Rockies' deficit in half at 4-2. He came back on Tuesday night to bang out his first extra base hit when he lined a sharp double down the right field line and scored his first run in the second inning to give the Rockies an early 1-0 lead.
Before he was called up from Colorado Springs, Paulsen appeared
in 95 games and was hitting .291 with 24 doubles, six triples, 15 home runs, 57 RBIs and 62 runs. His play rewarded him as the lone Sky Sox representative in the Triple-A All-Star Game, where he went 1-for-2 with a RBI single as a defensive replacement at first base.
