Problem is, he plays for the Bakersfield Blaze.
Espinal, a San Diego Padres product, slammed Tom Szimanski's 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall in the bottom of the 11th, giving Bakersfield a come-from-behind, 4-3 victory over the JetHawks in front of 1,017 at Sam Lynn Ballpark.
"It was a fastball right down the middle," was Espinal's play-by-play. "All I was trying to do was get my bat out. But I hit it hard enough and it went out of the park. It feels good. It feels real good."
Not to the JetHawks, who were three outs away from their first series sweep in their first series. Courtesy of Shane Monahan's RBI single in the ninth, the JetHawks took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the inning.
But Bakersfield tagged closer John Thompson with singles from Jeff Martin and Kevin Bentley, a sacrifice from Espinal and a sacrifice fly from Doug Carroll. All as the prelude to a long double to right-center by Dave Smith, which scored Bentley with the tying run.
"We had a lot more chances before that," Lancaster manager Dave Brundage said. "(To) give up a home run, it's not Szimanski's fault. We had plenty of opportunities before that happened."
Opportunities like the 10th, when the JetHawks loaded the bases with two out. . . only to have Jason Cook strike out.
Or opportunities like the fifth, when James Clifford reached on a two-out error by shortstop Smith and went to third on another error by Smith, this one off the bat of Carlos Villalobos. But Shawn Buhner popped up to first.
Or opportunities provided by any of the other three errors Bakersfield committed.
Yes, all that provided Lancaster with another charm to a gaudy statistical bracelet - men left on base. The JetHawks stranded 13 men Saturday night, giving them 39 for the three-game series.
"We didn't execute. We let their first pitcher (Bob Oldham) off the hook on numerous, numerous occasions," Brundage said. "He didn't have good command of the strike zone, he left the ball up in the strike zone. But we didn't have good command of our strike zone either."
That applies to everyone but JetHawks starting pitcher Ken Cloude and his immediate successor, John Daniels, both of whom displayed outstanding command of the strike zone.
In five innings, Cloude displayed why Brundage tabbed him the JetHawks starter for the April 16 home opener. He struck out 11 and allowed only three hits.
Cloude struck out two or more batters in every inning but the third. He struck out the side in the fourth and fifth and recorded 11-of-15 outs via the K.
Daniels threw a perfect three innings, striking out four of the nine batters he faced before turning things over to Thompson.
By that point, the JetHawks propped up Cloude with single runs in the second and fourth. In the second, Oldham issued one-out walks to Villalobos, Buhner and Scot Sealy.
Oldham took a break from his wildness long enough to catch Cook looking before resuming with a bases-loaded walk to Luis Molina - the JetHawks' No. 9 hitter.
Things were a little more conventional in the fourth, even though they started in similar fashion - with a walk to Sealy.
One out later, Molina singled him to second. Marcus Sturdivant took it from there, singling to center for his team-high third RBI of the season.