Excerpts below taken from an article written by Blake Williams, Dodger Blue.
Padre alumnus, James Outman '15, entered spring training fighting for a spot on the Dodger's opening day roster. His path opened up, however, when Gavin Lux suffered a torn ACL and LCL early in spring. Then, following a strong showing in spring training, Outman was named to the opening day roster.
Outman said he arrived at Dodger Stadium on Thursday early and described it as a “dream come true” before the game.
In his first at-bat with the Dodgers trailing 2-0 in the third inning, he drew a walk before coming around to score on a two-run single by Will Smith that tied the game.
In the sixth inning, he hit a two-run home run that was his first at Dodger Stadium.
“It was cool,” Outman said about the homer. “The fans are awesome. It was awesome. It was a dream come true.”
Outman picked up his second hit of the game to lead off the eighth inning when he singled to right field and reached second base on an error. After he set the table, Rojas singled and Freddie Freeman walked to load the bases when Smith hit a sacrifice fly to add the eighth run of the game for the Dodgers.
Outman finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI.
“I was definitely excited, but being nervous beforehand wasn’t going to help me out any,” Outman explained. “So just take the info, run with it, prepare myself and try to view it as objectively as possible, because when nerves start taking over, bad things happen sometimes.