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GREENSBORO -- Saturday's exhibition baseball game between the Florida Marlins and the Greensboro Grasshoppers was supposed to be a chance for the parent Marlins to strengthen ties with one of their affiliates and give fans an opportunity to see major league stars as well as players who once performed in the Gate City.

And the day went precisely to script ... that is until the upstart Hoppers jumped out to a 4-0 lead, then rallied for an 8-7 win in 10 innings.

The contest drew a shirtsleeve-clad crowd of 9,362 to NewBridge Bank Park. They saw a little bit of everything.

Kyle Skipworth, back for his second season with the Hoppers, clubbed a two-run homer in the second inning.

"I was thrilled for him," new Greensboro manager Andy Haines said of Skipworth. "They threw him into the fire last year. He's a young pup and at times he held his own. For him to get off to a good start is tremendous for him. The ovation the crowd gave him was outstanding. I was thrilled for him."

After the Hoppers added two runs in the third, the Marlins scored four times in the fourth inning and three times in the fifth. But the Hoppers' Taylor Krick hit a two-run double in the eighth and Jose Torres forced extra innings when he led off the ninth with a first-pitch homer to left.

Torres drove in the winning run in the 10th by beating out an infield single.

"(He) loves to play," Haines said of Torres. "He's the player of the day, ties the game and then wins it right there. He loves to play and you can see the energy he plays with."

Fans looking for a big game from Florida's stars were not disappointed.

All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez had a double, a walk and a run scored. Third baseman Jorge Cantu, who had 100 RBIs last season, had an RBI single and a two-run homer that cleared the grassy berm in left field.

As for the former Greensboro players, Kevin Mattison had two hits, but the other four Hoppers' alums went 0-for-9 with Florida.

One of them, first baseman Gaby Sanchez, went 0-for-2.

"Gaby's played well for us, played good defense, swung the bat really well and won the (starting) job," Florida hitting coach Jim Presley said.

Sanchez hit 14 home runs in 189 at-bats for Greensboro in 2005 before a promotion. Bill James' projection system, FanGraphs, predicts he will hit 15 home runs this season.

"Will he hit 30 (home runs)? Probably not," Presley said. "He's got the right approach and he's going to hit .300 in the big leagues for you. He's not your prototypical power-hitting first baseman, but he knows what he's doing."

FLORIDA GREENSBORO

E--Austin 2, Jensen, Dayleg, Krick 2. DP--Greensboro 2. LOB--Florida 7, Greensboro 8. 2B--Ramirez (1), jensen (1), CPaulina 2 (2), Krick (1). HR--Maybin (1), Cantu (1), Skipworth (1), Torres (1). CS--Smith (1). SH--Krick.

HBP--Smith (by Sanchez), Smith (by Lawrence).

Umpires--Home, Ward. 1st, Barron; 3rd, Burke.

T--2:59. A--9,362.