CHIEFS SWEEP DAYTON
Falling behind early in both games, the Peoria Chiefs mounted a couple of middle inning comebacks on their way to a pair of 5-4 wins in a doubleheader sweep against the Dayton Dragons. The Chiefs were paced by Nelson Perez's homer and Ryan Flaherty's two-run double in game one and some clutch, two-out hitting in game two.
The Chiefs used a big third inning to gain their first lead of the game. Trailing 4-1 with one out, Rebel Ridling walked. Perez, who was tied for the lead in the Arizona Rookie League last season with 10 homers, stepped in and blasted a line-shot to right that pinged off the foul pole to cut the Chiefs deficit to 4-3. The long ball was the Chiefs first of the season. Josh Vitters followed that up with an infield single up the middle, and Kyler Burke lined a single to left. Vitters was eventually thrown out at third trying to advance to on a wild pitch and Junior Lake walked. Flaherty, with one hit already on the day, bounced one just inside the first base line, plating both Burke and Lake to give the Chiefs a 5-4 edge.
Dayton took advantage of a first-inning error to take an early 1-0 lead. Dave Sappelt singled to left. Cody Puckett grounded one towards third but it went underneath the glove of Josh Vitters, allowing Sappelt to travel all the way to third on the play. Jose Gualdron came up and delivered a sacrifice fly to right field, plating Sappelt and putting Dayton on the board.
The Chiefs got that run back quickly in their half of the first. Tony Campana reached on a bunt single to third. After a sacrifice by Josh Harrison, Ridling drove in his sixth run of the young season with a RBI single to right-center to tie the game at one.
The Dragons tacked on three more runs in the second. With one away, Jordan Wideman ripped an opposite field double down the right field line. Miguel Rojas bounced a single up the middle. Campana's throw to the plate was high as Wideman scored. On the throw, Rojas advanced to second base setting the table for Brandon Menchaca. The right-handed hitting right-fielder lined a single to right, scoring Rojas. With two down in the inning and runners on first and second, Jose Gualdron snuck one through the left side of the infield allowing Menchaca to score to make it a 4-1 Dayton lead.
Jeff Beliveau started game one for the Chiefs on the mound. In his second appearance and first start, the southpaw allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits in three innings of work. Mike Perconte (1-0) came on in relief to pick up the win and needed just 22 pitches two get through three innings without allowing a hit. Erik Hamren picked up his first save of the season, hurling a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Leonardo Astorga started for Dayton. The right-hander, who was draped with the loss, allowed five runs on seven hits in three innings.
The Dragons again jumped on top of the Chiefs early in game two. Dave Sappelt and Cody Puckett led off the game with consecutive singles and came around to score on a Kyle Day two-run triple. Dayton was still threatening with runners at the corners and nobody out after a Humberto Sosa walk, but Chiefs starter Marcus Hatley struck out Gualdron and induced a double play off the bat of Byron Wiley to keep it 2-0.
The Chiefs got on the board in the second as Perez led off with a tailing double to left. After Cliff Andersen was retired, Flaherty drove in his third run of the doubleheader with a single up the middle to make it a 2-1 score.
Trailing 2-1, the Chiefs took their first lead of game two in the fifth inning against Oscar Castro. After one out, David Macias reached second on an error by Dragons first baseman Humberto Sosa. Tony Campana tied the game with a single to left as Macias scored without a throw. Campana stole second and advanced to third on a single by Harrison. With the game tied, Ridling drove home his seventh RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Campana for a 3-2 Chiefs lead.
Peoria added to their lead in the sixth. David Macias and Campana both recorded RBI singles to give the Chiefs some much needed insurance at 5-2. The Dragons rallied in the top of the seventh. With one out and runners on first and second, Ryan Buchter came on to relieve Josh Whitlock. Buchter struggled though and walked three straight hitters on 12 consecutive balls, forcing in two runs. With the bases still loaded and the tying run on third base, Jose Pina came in to try and close it out. The third-year Chief induced a foul pop out by Byron Wiley to the third baseman Macias, and Frank Pfister grounded harmlessly to Flaherty to end the threat and the game.
Hatley, a 6'5 right-hander allowed two runs on five hits over two innings while walking two and striking out one. Kevin Kreier tossed three scoreless innings and allowed one hit with two strikeouts in a winning effort. Whitlock went 1 1/3 innings, Buchter faced three batters and Pina picked up his first save of the season. Oscar Castro was the losing pitcher for the Dragons. Castro allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Courtesy: Peoria Chiefs
BU BEATS WIU
After allowing an 8-1 lead going into the seventh inning to slip away, Bradley (12-19) regrouped and scored five in the eighth inning en route to a 13-9 college baseball victory against instate rival Western Illinois (7-18) Tuesday night at O’Brien Field.
Frigid temperatures did nothing to cool the bats for either team Tuesday. Western Illinois outhit the Braves 14-13. All but one player who stepped to the plate got at least one hit and that lone hitter, WIU leftfielder Jared Wolf, drew three walks and scored twice. Seven players from each team drove in at least one run, including a game-high three RBI’s by Bradley centerfielder Matt Fritz.
Stewart Cooper opened the game with a double into the leftfield corner and Wolf followed with his first walk, but Bradley starting pitcher Mike Derby recovered by getting Drew Laidig to ground into a double play and striking out Tyler Metcalf.
Bradley took better advantage of a similar start to the bottom half of the first, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. Leadoff man Tommy Fitzgerald doubled inside the bag at first and Nick Mitidiero followed with a single into rightfield. Mitidiero made it runners at second and third by taking an extra base on the Western Illinois throw home and Colby Luttrell brought home Fitzgerald with the game’s first run by lifting a sacrifice fly to center field. Brad Kimble then followed with a single through the left side of the infield to put runners on the corners and he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jim Clayton plated both runners with a two-out double off the right field wall.
The Leathernecks put their first two runners on again in the second inning on a leadoff walk and a seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield, but Derby once again escaped by getting Andrew Hagins to lineout and Lorenzo Gallaga to bounce into a double play. After getting their leadoff man on base again in the third against Bradley’s second pitcher, Justin Ziegler, Western Illinois broke through with its first run. Curt Myers singled, stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored on Wolf’s fly ball to right field.
The Braves got that run back in the fourth inning after Clayton singled off the right field wall, went to second on a Jordan Colvin sacrifice, to third on a Tim Scanlan single and scored on a Fritz sacrifice fly. After stealing second, Scanlan came home on Fitzgerald’s two-out single to right, pushing the Bradley lead to 5-1.
Western Illinois tried to chip away at the lead in the sixth inning, but after a pair of one-out singles, Luttrell ended the threat by gunning out the lead runner at the plate on Hagins’ one out single to right. It was Luttrell’s seventh outfield assist of the season and his Missouri Valley Conference leading 28th career outfield assist.
Bradley then padded its lead in the bottom of the sixth after loading the bases with one out. Mitidiero brought home two runners with a single through the box and Luttrell followed with an RBI single to right, pushing the advantage to 8-1.
The Leathernecks rallied for five runs against Bradley’s fourth pitcher, freshman Jacob Booden, in the seventh inning. Gallaga started the rally with a single through the box, took second on a groundout and scored on Stewart’s single into right centerfield. Stewart stole second in front of a walk to Wolf and Drew Laidig followed with an RBI single into left centerfield that also moved Wolf around to third. Tyler Metcalf punched the first pitch he saw through the right side of the infield to pull the Leathernecks to within 8-4 and John Koszulinski made it four straight RBI singles to bring Western Illinois within 8-5.
With the potential tying run suddenly at the plate, senior closer Bryan Porter (3-1) came in with runners at the corners and one out. Porter got Kenny Price to bounce out to second, but Metcalf came home on the play, trimming Bradley’s lead to 8-6. Porter then struck out Hagins to put an end to the WIU uprising.
The Leathernecks continued their rally in the eighth inning after an infield single by reserve catcher Joseph Warapay and a two-out walk to Wolf. Laidig lined an RBI single to center to make it 8-7. Porter got Metcalf to hit a two-hopper to third, but Scanlan booted the ball, allowing Wolf to come home with the tying run. Koszulinski then drew a walk to load the bases before Porter struck out Price to end the inning.
Western Illinois hurler Austin Brough (2-6) hit Fitzgerald with the first pitch in the bottom of the eighth and Mitidiero advanced him with a sacrifice bunt. While Fitzgerald continued on to third on a passed ball, Brough pitched around Luttrell and walked him on four pitches to put runners at the corners with one out. Right-hander Chris Fuchs became WIU’s fourth pitcher, entering the game to face Kimble. The Bradley designated hitter walked to load the bases in front of catcher Kevin Sullivan, who hit a 2-run single to left centerfield to put the Braves back on top, 10-8. Sullivan took second on the throw back to third base and the Leathernecks intentionally walked Clayton to reload the bases. Scanlan drew a walk to become the 13th player in the game to drive in a run, upping the lead to 11-8. Fritz blooped in a 2-run single to left field to complete Bradley’s five-run outburst.
Hagins led off the top of the ninth by reaching on a Scanlan error and Western Illinois pinch-hitter Darren Spicer became the 14th player to produce an RBI by delivering a one-out, run-scoring double into the leftfield corner. Porter got Stewart to hit a comebacker for the second out and Wolf grounded out to shortstop to end the game.
The Braves will return to action this weekend by hosting Evansville in a three-game Valley series at O’Brien Field. The series will begin with 6 p.m. games Friday and Saturday and will conclude with a one o’clock game Sunday afternoon.
Courtesy: Bradley Sports Information
