Amarillo 7, Sioux Falls 6

The Canaries and Sox battled through a pitchers’ duel for nine innings, but that did not last long in the tenth. Tied at 2, Sioux Falls got four in the top of the 10th. With runners on first and second Sam Lind tripled to deep center field to give the Canaries a 4-2 lead. Matt Hitt then followed with his second home run of the year, and the game looked like it was clearly over with the Canaries leading 6-2. Surprisingly Sioux Falls stayed with starter Kyle Ruwe, but after giving up a walk and two singles the team turned to closer Alan DeRatt. The problem was that it was a little too late to stop the momentum by that point. An error by SS Stephen Branca kept runners on first and second. One out later Jeff Farnham singled to load the bases for Geraldo Valentin, who singled for the walk-off win. Valentin went 3-5 with two runs and two RBI. Joe Weik also had three hits for Amarillo with a run and an RBI.

Grand Prairie 4, Laredo 3

Laredo looked like they had this game locked up, leading 3-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Grand Prairie was not ready to give up however. A single by Bryan Myrow drove home the winning run and the Lemurs dropped 1.5 games behind the St. Paul Saints who were rained out. Jimmy Mojica went 3-5 with a run scored for the Airhogs. John Alonso had two hits and his 15th home run of the season. TyRelle Harris (4-3) got the win in relief, striking out two in one inning of work.

Lincoln 8, Gary Southshore 6

The Gary Southshore RailCats could not possibly be happier to see the Lincoln Saltdogs leave after being swept at home, and seeing their five game lead in the Central Division sliced to just one game. The Saltdogs used a big seven-run fourth inning to grab a commanding 8-1 lead, and then held on for the victory. Gary Southshore scored three in the ninth, but closer Marshall Schuler came in to close out the game for his 28th save of the season. He saved all four games in the sweep. Luis Nunez went 4-5 with two runs and two RBI for Lincoln and Ian Gac added his 17th home run and three RBI. Daniel Pulfer went 4-5 day with a run and an RBI in a losing effort for the RailCats.

Winnipeg 6-10, Sioux City 2-0

The Winnipeg Goldeyes finished off the game that was suspended by rain yesterday, with a 6-2 victory, then completed the double-header sweep with a 10-0 thrashing of the Explorers. The Goldeyes had a 6-2 lead in Tuesday’s game when rain came suspending the game until Wednesday.  Before the delay Winnipeg erased a 2-0 deficit with five runs in the top of the fifth, and coasted from there. Tyler Kuhn and Brock Bond had big games for the Goldeyes. Bond was 3-4 with a run and an RBI, and Kuhn went 3-5 with a run and an RBI. Casey Haerther added his 11th home run of the season for Winnipeg. The Goldeyes bullpen was another hero in the game, providing five innings of shutout relief. Gabe Aguilar pitched two shutout innings, striking out three to get the win, and Brendan Lafferty pitched three perfect innings to record his second save of the season.

In the regularly scheduled game, Winnipeg jumped all over Sioux Falls early and often to the tune of a 10-0 win. Winnipeg scored four in the second and sixth innings, and one in the third and the seventh. The game was called after seven. Nick Hernandez pitched a real gem for the Goldeyes, going seven innings, giving up just three hits, and striking out seven on rout to the complete game shutout. Hernandez faced just 28 batters and 68 of his 99 pitches were strikies. Reggie Abercrombie and Luis Alen both homered for Winnipeg. Abercrombie went 3-4 with two runs, three RBI and his 15th home run of the season. One of Alen’s two hits was his fourth home run of the year, and he added two runs and two RBI in the victory.

By Robert Pannier
Senior Baseball Editor
Member of the IBWAA